Cyndi Lauper Shouts Out To JMG

Here are the deets on the tour: Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, Debbie Harry, The Dresden Dolls, The Gossip and The Misshapes with host Margaret Cho take the celebration of the first annual True Colors Tour to support the Human Rights Campaign. The 15 city nationwide tour, presented by Logo, kicks off Gay and Lesbian Pride Month on June 8th at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. The concert features 5 hours of nonstop music with other exciting guests appearing on select dates throughout the tour including Rufus Wainwright, Rose O’Donnell and The Indigo Girls with additional guests to be announced. I can't wait!

Family Pride Wins Grant

Kevin Bacon's charity website, Six Degrees, has named Family Pride as one of its six charities to win a matching grant, after the gay families group raised over $30,000 from 1138 donors. Bacon had pledged $10,000 to each of the top six groups with the most unique donors. Family Pride placed third, winning the additional money and a mention from Bacon on the Tonight Show this evening. Six Degrees, taking its name from the game Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon, was founded as a clearinghouse for donations to disaster relief, charities, and other causes. Congratulations, Family Pride! Make your own donation to Family Pride here.

Spider-Man: The Musical. No, Really.

Bono and The Edge are penning a Broadway musical version of Spider-Man, and auditions are already underway for a first reading, with Julie "Lion King" Taymor set to direct. That this news comes just as April 30-May 6 has been named "Spider-Man 3 Week In NYC" is pure coincidence of course. Producers are said to be looking for an actor in his late teens with a "great pop/rock voice" to play Spidey. Hmm, I know a certain aspiring singer who suddenly has time on his hands.

Jerusalem Bomb Protests Pride

This morning a bomb exploded near Jerusalem and investigating police found leaflets protesting the upcoming Jerusalem gay pride parade. Ultra-orthodox Jews are suspected to have planted the bomb, which slightly injured a farmer when his tractor rode over the device. Noah Sattah, executive director of Jerusalem Open House issued this statement: "Jerusalem Open House could not more strongly condemn this act of violence and hatred directed at us. This violent act is just one example of the religious bigotry, prejudice and violence lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the world are confronted with every day." There has been previous violence involving ultra-Orthodox protesters at Jerusalem pride events.

Bloomberg To Unveil Huge Wish List

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg will unveil a massive list of capital improvement projects for the city at an Earth Day ceremony this Sunday, including a new midtown trans-Hudson tunnel and a plan to begin "congestion pricing" for drivers entering crowded midtown and downtown areas during peak hours. London has had success with a similar plan, which has not only raised revenues for the city, but has reduced gridlock. There is already a considerable movement to block congestion pricing for NYC, which has been called a tax on low income New Yorkers. The fee may be as high as $8, minus toll if you are coming by bridge or tunnel. Maybe some Londoners can weigh in with their opinion on how congestion pricing has worked for them?

Sprung

There seems to be an strange and bright glowing light in the sky. Odd. Tomorrow feels like a good day for Central Park.

HomoQuotable - Curtis Dahn

“Thirty-three people were killed. Some were queer, and others were straight allies. The GLBT community at Tech grieves in the same way as others — deeply and as part of a greater whole.” - Virginia Tech GLBT Student Alliance president Curtis Dahn, reporting that gay students are among those killed in Monday's massacre.

Dahn declined to name or number the gay students killed, saying, "Yes, there were gay people that were killed. One was a very close friend of mine. But I don’t feel comfortable talking about it because I haven’t talked to the families and I want to be respectful to the families, first and foremost. I don't want this to be a gay thing, because it’s not a gay thing. It’s an everybody thing.” (via - NY Blade)

Survey On Gay Neighbors

In a survey of 24 nations conducted between 1999 and 2002, homophobia was shown to be the most prevalent form of bigotry in the western world, compared to bigotry based on race, religion and national origin. Titled Human Beliefs And Values, the survey was conducted by a international group of social scientists, who asked Europeans and Australians the question "Would you mind a homosexual living next door to you?" The percentage of respondents who said "yes" varied greatly by country. Some of the most offended:

Northern Ireland - 36%
Italy - 29%
Austria - 26%
Greece - 26%
Portugal - 25%
Australia - 24%
New Zealand - 22%

The most welcoming country for homos was Sweden, with only 6% objecting to gay neighbors. I'll try to find the complete list and post it here. I suppose we should be comforted that even in the most homophobic nations in the survey, around 70-75% would have no problem with gay neighbors. How do you think the USA would rank?

Goodbye Sanjaya

Wearing a t-shirt that said "Life Is Beautiful", Sanjaya was voted off of American Idol last night, ending a national obsession. After the result was announced, fellow contestant Lakisha gave Sanjaya an extremely long embrace as the audience gave him a standing ovation. And then, as is tradition, Sanjaya was given to mic to perform a final number, in which he changed the lyrics of Bonnie Raitt's Something To Talk About, singing "Let's give them something to talk about, other than HAIR!" Good for him. His supporters, the "fanjayas", are swarming the message boards with notes of grief and enduring love. And now I can return to ignoring American Idol.

Deca Disappears

Watson Pharmaceuticals has discontinued production of its AIDS-related wasting drug, the anabolic steroid nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin), citing diminished availability of the medication's active ingredient. Some AIDS activists are protesting the move, claiming that Watson has discontinued Deca in order to focus on their recently acquired license to manufacture a generic version of Oxandrin, another anti-wasting drug.

In some circles, Deca-Durabolin has been long known as the "Lazarus drug", for its remarkable ability to transform nearly skeletal AIDS patients into robust, athletic-looking men. In fact, some HIV activists actually blame the drug's transformative powers for helping create the media-led misperception of HIV-infected gay men as muscular, mountain-climbing, gym bunnies, as so often depicted in HIV pharma advertising. Deca-Durabolin's HIV-related usage is "off-label", the FDA approved the drug to treat anemia. Deca is considered relatively safe, cost-effective, and is an approved ADAP medication.

Not all activists are accusing Watson of pulling a fast one, citing the company's long history of generous patient assistance programs. Tim Horn, senior writer for AIDSmeds.com, says that Deca's end is the fault of activists themselves, who should have been more aggressive in getting the drug FDA-approved as an AIDS medication. Oxandrin, Deca's defacto replacement, is more expensive and unlike Deca, can cause liver damage. Activists successfully forced Deca's return to the market after its previous manufacturer discontinued it in 2002. For the sake of my friends who depend on Deca, I hope they are successful again.

Bathhouse Betties

The current issue of The New Yorker features an article about the Ansonia Hotel, former home of the legendary Continental Baths:

What is it about the Ansonia Hotel, at Broadway and Seventy-third Street, that makes people want to take off their clothes? In the nineteen-sixties and seventies, naked men, sometimes ten thousand of them a week, used to hang out downstairs in the sauna, Turkish baths, and massage parlor of the Continental Baths, where Bette Midler got her start (clothed), singing torch songs poolside, accompanied by Barry Manilow, to an audience of men wearing white towels (black towels on formal nights)—the very same outfit worn by the undercover cops who frequently raided the place. In 1977, women started getting naked, too, when the baths reopened as Plato’s Retreat, the heterosexual swingers’ club. (Of course, they might have been there for the all-you-can-eat buffet of bagels, lox, and Scotch.)

Look for more skin at this location now that it has been transformed into the newest branch of Loehmann’s. Many New York women have traumatic memories of zaftig matrons in giant bras and girdles preening in front of mirrors in the famous communal dressing room, and asking strangers to unzip them, while bored husbands sat in soiled armchairs by the curtained doorway, hoping to catch a glimpse of thigh. As one veteran shopper said recently, “As a child, everything scary I knew about women and female anatomy I learned in that dressing room.”

Turning the site of a former bathhouse into a women's discount clothing outlet is a classic sign of the times, isn't it? However, I'm happy to report that despite earlier press accounts, another Manhattan landmark, the former Limelight nightclub is not becoming an H&M outlet after all. Several weeks ago the building resurrected itself one more time as its last nightlife incarnation, Avalon, and is packing in the boys on Saturday nights once again.

New Hampshire Civil Unions Likely

New Hampshire Governor Bill Lynch said today that he will sign the civil unions bill which is expected to pass the NH Senate next week. When that happens, New Hampshire will join Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey as the fourth state to offer civil unions to same-sex partners. Gov. Lynch has said that he still opposes marriage for gay partners, but that civil unions are "a matter of conscience, fairness and preventing discrimination."

He's Your Dreamgirl, Boy

Congratulations to Jake, who authors the Chicago-based blog, NoFo, the winner of Tuesday's Dreamgirls contest. Jake was our 46th commenter on my sister's 46th birthday, hence his selection. And by an odd coincidence, yesterday was also Jake's birthday!

Jake says: "This makes me a bigger Dreamgirls winner than Eddie Murphy! This DVD is much more exciting than the new bathroom rugs I got from my mom. (That screaming you hear is probably from my Dreamgirls-freaky boyfriend, who will naturally claim the Dreamgirls glory as his own. He can be so Deena like that.)"

Thanks go out to Paramount Pictures, who has already been in contact with Jake. Dreamgirls comes out on DVD on May 1st. There will be another giveaway next Tuesday, courtesy of Universal Music Group. Publicists - email me if you want to take part in Swag Tuesdays.

Open Thread Thursday

Do you try to become friends with hook-ups/tricks/one night stands? Or are you happy if you never run into them again?
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Supremes Uphold Feds On Abortion

By a 5-4 vote, today the Supreme Court gave the anti-abortion movement its hugest victory in many years, upholding the federal ban on "partial-birth" or late-term abortions. Predictably, dissenting justices were Ginsberg, Souter, Stevens, and Breyer. Justice Ginsberg objected so strenuously, she took the unusual step of reading her dissent from the bench, noting that this ruling will disadvantage adolescents and underclass women who often have difficulty gaining access to early-term abortions.

Already the Christianist sites are crowing, hailing today's decision as the "first blow" towards of the reversal of Roe V. Wade and the end of abortion in America. The progressive listservs are also very active, with a protest march in Manhattan already scheduled for tonight. I expect that some of the major gay orgs will weigh in shortly, surely to the dismay of some gay activists who feel that gay rights groups should stay out of "non-gay" issues. As I've said here before, I strongly disagree with that mindset. Gay men in particular may feel that they don't have a dog in this fight, but they're wrong. Any encroachment into the personal liberty of Americans is everybody's concern and I look forward to seeing what position the HRC or the NGLFT will take.

UPDATE: From the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: "Today's decision is the direct result of President Bush being allowed to put Samuel Alito and John Roberts - ultraconservatives committed to elevating ideology over the health and safety of women - on the Supreme Court. With this decision, a majority of our nation's highest court permitted itself to be a tool of the anti-choice movement instead of preserving a woman's constitutionally protected right to make childbearing choices in consultation with family members and medical care providers. This is a sad day for America and our constitution." - Matt Foreman, Executive Director.
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QJL Meeting Tomorrow

Following along on the Queer Justice League's listserv, it's impossible not to be reminded of Monty Python's Life Of Brian.

REG: Listen. If you really wanted to join the Peoples Front of Judea, you'd have to really hate the Romans.
BRIAN: I do!
REG: Oh, yeah? How much?
BRIAN: A lot!
REG: Right. You're in. Listen. The only people we hate more than the Romans are the fucking Judean People's Front.
JUDITH: Splitters.
FRANCIS: And the Judean Popular People's Front.
LORETTA: And the People's Front of Judea.
JUDITH: Yeah. Splitters!
REG: What?
LORETTA: The People's Front of Judea. Splitters.
REG: We ARE the People's Front of Judea!
LORETTA: Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
REG: People's Front!
FRANCIS: Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
REG: He's over there.

The next meeting of the Queer Justice League takes place tomorrow night, 7pm, at the LGBT Community Center.

Priorities

Upper East Side, 1st & 71st, 8:30am

A woman is walking her dog in front of an under-construction high-rise. A cement truck is waiting to back into the site.

Construction Guy: Excuse me, miss! Can you please use the other sidewalk?

Woman (pointing at dog): When he is done making HIS shit, you can go back to making YOURS.

I was more startled by the polite construction worker than by the woman's response.
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Madison Mayor Alters Oath

"I cannot in good conscience take office without noting my strong opposition to the recent amendment that so blatantly discriminates against my fellow Wisconsinites who are gay or lesbian." - Madison, Wisconsin's newly elected Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, during yesterday's swearing-in ceremony. Half of Madison's city council joined Cieslewicz in altering their oaths of office, earning the wrath of conservatives. Fantastic.

Kucinich To File Against Cheney

Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has announced that this week he plans on filing articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. Beltway insiders are claiming this move is merely a publicity ploy by Kucinich, who is trailing far behind in the polls. One quote: "We’ll see a Kucinich administration before we’ll see a Cheney impeachment.”

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath either.

Net Radio Collapsing Under Ruling

The internet radio industry was dealt a sharp blow yesterday when the Copyright Royalty Board refused to reconsider a ruling that sharply raised the royalties internet stations must pay to artists and record companies. Most internet stations such as 365Live.com now say they will not be able to go on under the new rules. Some of my personal favorite stations have already folded. Gaydar Radio is now free only in the UK and NPR says they may be cutting back on their online streaming. There are many online petition drives urging the FCC to change its ruling, but prospects appear dim.

National Day Of Silence

Today is the 11th annual National Day Of Silence, in which students around the country will remain silent during their school day to draw awareness to homophobia on campus The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network has distributed stickers and cards for students to pay out. The material reads: "Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?"

Clergy Back Hate Crimes Act

Hundreds of clergy from all faiths have gathered in Washington today to lobby for the passage of ENDA and the LGBT-inclusive hate crimes bill, which last week was renamed the Matthew Shepard Act when it was introduced in the Senate. HRC's Joe Solmonese: "For too long, there has been a false perception in American politics that faith and religion stand diametrically opposed to equality for GLBT Americans. The hundreds of clergy joining us are here because they understand that we are all God’s children, and our differing sexual orientations and our differing gender identities are not shameful sins, but rather amazing gifts from God."

This year could prove to be the greatest year for the cause since 2003's Lawrence v. Texas. We're so close. So very close.
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Sanjaya: Maxim's Girl Of The Day

OK, now it's on. Laddie mag Maxim has just named Sanjaya as their Girl Of The Day. I'll admit that previously I joined in the Sanjaya bashing as gleefully as the next person, but Maxim has pissed me off enough to really start pulling for the kid. It's sorta how we're allowed to make fun of our own, but The Others are not, dig? I can't imagine that Sanjaya is not One Of Us (and I hope he is), and even if Maxim is just taking a good-natured poke at him (and I think they are), I feel we must now claim him. Sanjaya lives! (via - Towleroad.)

UPDATE: Having seen tonight's show, I'm fairly confident Sanjaya's ride is over. He was just impossibly bad.

Linky Love

From a few of my blogroll favorites...

-Beloved-by-all JMG commenter Lynette tells a poignant story of AIDS and enduring love.

-SuperDaddy Mark visits San Francisco and dreams a golden dream.

-Top (chef) Aaron photoblogs his latest masterpiece.
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HomoQuotable - Matt Foreman

"Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been utterly wasted on 'abstinence-only until marriage' programs. Why? To appease a rabidly vocal minority that cares more about getting our government to promote their religious ideology than they do about the health of young people. 'Abstinence-only until marriage' propaganda has been particularly insulting to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people because the most vocal opponents of marriage equality have been abstinence-only's most vocal proponents. Given this latest study - which confirms multiple other government and privately funded reports - it would be unconscionable for Congress to appropriate one more penny to these thoroughly debunked, ideologically driven, harmful and wasteful programs." - National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman, responding to the news that federal abstinence-only programs have not altered the sexual behavior of young people.

Dreamgirls Giveaway

Today a lucky JMG reader will win a deluxe Dreamgirls DVD package and a collectible Playbill from the premiere screening, courtesy of Paramount Pictures, as they promote the DVD's May 1st release. Using a highly scientific entirely random selection process (asking my mom to pick a number), a commenter on this post will be chosen and notified by email Wednesday.

Adding spice to the promotion, Paramount is staging a "Live The Dream" contest, inviting the public to submit their own a cappella video of themselves singing a song from the Dreamgirls soundtrack. The videos will be reviewed by Dreamgirls director/writer Bill Condon and producer Laurence Mark, with the winner receiving a $5000 shopping spree. There have been a handful of videos already submitted and the one below is not too shabby, but I'm hoping that there's a JMG reader out there than can top her. C'mon, boys. You know you've been singing that song in the shower for years. I'll be highly tempted to post any reader videos here, so be warned.

33 Dead At Virgnia Tech

A lone gunman killed 33 people at Virginia Tech today, in what is being called the deadliest school massacre in American history. It appears that most of the dead are students, some of whom were shot in their dormitories.

GUN CONTROL.

GUN CONTROL.

GUN CONTROL.

It's the only answer.

UPDATE: A Virginia Tech student live-blogged his wrenching day. News media reps are leaving comments, begging for interviews.
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Indy Billboard Campaign Quotes Gay-Friendly Bible Verses

Jesus MCC of Indianapolis has launched a city-wide billboard campaign that counters the prevailing opinion that gay love is condemned in the Bible The church's site, Would Jesus Discrimate, says about the billboard picured here (one of six in the campaign), "Throughout Christian history, Ruth's vow to Naomi has been used to illustrate the nature of the marriage covenant. These words are often read at Christian wedding ceremonies and used in sermons to illustrate the ideal love that spouses should have for one another. The fact that these words were originally spoken by one woman to another tells us a lot about how God feels about same-gender relationships."

Even though I'm a rather militant atheist, I dig this billboard campaign, although I can imagine a few car accidents occuring as outraged Christians hit their brakes while they blow their tops. And I'll all for people blowing their tops, even in the name of Jeebus.

Iraq Improves Stance On Gays

Last week, Deb Price of the Detroit Press managed to get the Iraq government's spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, to now condemn the killing of Iraqi gays, when she demanded, "Does the Iraqi government condemn the killings of Iraqis targeted specifically because they're homosexual?" The spokesman responded, "Iraqi government condemn each and every killing -- whoever are being killed. Definitely we condemn it. Due to any reasons."

Price calls the latest statement "encouraging", especially in light of al-Dabbagh's previous comment on the U.S. State Department's report regarding anti-gay hit squads in Iraq: "There was information in the report that we cannot accept here in Iraq. The report, for example, spoke about the phenomenon of homosexuality and giving them their rights. Such statements are not suitable to the Iraqi society. This is rejected. They should respect the values and traditions here in Iraq."

In her column, Price calls for American intervention on behalf of Iraqi gays, saying, " U.S. officials need to do more -- publicly denounce any targeting of sexual minorities in the fledgling democracy. In Iraq, all of the violence against innocent civilians is horrifying. But if a stable, relatively peaceful Iraq is ever to emerge and join the ranks of civilized nations, it will have to be a place where government tries to safeguard the rights of all, including its most vulnerable citizens." Yes, indeed, Ms. Price.

Google Launches Free 411

Google has launched another innovative service, a free local 411 directory. Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and they'll connect you for free to any business. I think my cell phone company charges about a buck for each 411 call. Now I've got to figure out what Google is getting out of this.

Firefighter Wins Discrimination Suit

A male firefighter was awarded $1.7M by a Los Angeles jury for anti-gay discrimination he claims he suffered for coming to the defense of a lesbian firefighter. The firefighter had claimed he was forced out of the fire department after he supported his coworker in her homophobic bias suit against the department. I presume the male firefighter is straight, making this another ironic example of how workplace protections for LGBT people can benefit all.

Wettest Day In 119 Years

Holy crap! We got 7.81 inches of rain in Central Park yesterday, the wettest day in NYC in 119 years, and almost breaking the 1888 record. That's Florida-style rain right there. But there's no flooding around Manhattan, at least none that I've noticed. I guess we've got great drainage 'round these parts.

Morning View - Jefferson Library

Looking spooky in this rain, the West Village's Jefferson Market Library was built in 1874 and was used as a courthouse until 1945. The adjoining buildings on the property were used as the New York Women's House Of Detention. When weather permits, the library has a lovely flower garden open to the public.

PotatOH!

I'm proud to report that I have taken my food preparation laziness to new dizzying heights, with the advent of the pre-washed, individually packaged Express Bake PotatOH!, which is ready for immediate microwaving. I don't know if this is a new gimmick or if I just noticed them, but it pleases me greatly.