"Chelsea, You Rule"

You gotta love the copywriter that came up with this Virgin Mobile ad that Superdaddy and I found on a phone booth on 8th Avenue, which playfully compares sexual versatility to Virgin's phone plan. Super and I walked all the way from the West Village to the GB:NYC4 drink-up at Therapy, where a massive crowd of sodden bloggers awaited. Along the way we passed lots of squids and jarheads mobbing the pubs of midtown. We found another Virgin ad at 47th Street, "Theatre District, You Rule", but it wasn't nearly as funny as this one.

Pier Queers

LEFT: Eric Leven, an organizer, shows off the flyer for Queer Justice League's first action at the Christopher Street piers. Meant to "celebrate the queer presence on the piers", most of the kids took a flyer and paid interest to the speakers for a bit before returning to their vogueing and cell phones. It was a good beginning, I think.

Rosie Ankles View Early

Today was Rosie O'Donnell's last day on The View, she will not be returning for her final three weeks after Wednesday's huge blow-up with co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck. The official reason for the early departure is that Rosie has requested "early leave". Damn. I was really looking forward to watching Rosie finish out her contract, unrestrained and unapologetic.

Rosie has long been angling to replace Bob Barker in The Price Is Right and yesterday she took out a full-page ad in Variety that commended Barker's 50 years in show business and reminded him of her love for the show. Barker is reportedly adamantly opposed to Rosie replacing him.

It Would Be, It Would Be So Nice

Shelley Winters plans on spending her holiday weekend pursuing her two favorite hobbies: spazzing out attacking random objects and creating pillow forts. Myself, I'll be haunting the various gay blogger meet-ups that are scheduled for GB:NYC4, where I hope to run into lots of y'all that aren't escaping to the beach.

Queers Of The Piers

The Queer Justice League is staging their first action tonight:

Celebrate the "Queer of the Piers" Meeting and Rally at the Christopher St. Piers. TODAY Friday May 25th at 8PM. Our action is to introduce who we are, our mission, gain support and bring visibility to a number of queer related issues occuring at the pier. Please come dance, kiss, chant and celebrate our visibility in the summer sky! ALL ARE WELCOME!

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Gay Or Experienced?

Well, rats. I can't lobby my state assemblyman to support the gay marriage bill because I don't have one. Gov. Spitzer recently named Pete Grannis the state environmental commissioner, something I somehow missed. Today I got a notice that a special election to replace Grannis will take place on June 5th.

But woohoo, the Democratic candidate to replace Grannis is Micah Kellner, 28, who is endorsed by the Victory Fund and would become the 4th openly LGBT member of the state assembly. Kellner is a former aide to Carolyn Maloney, my Congresswoman. On the other hand, Kellner's Republican opponent is Gregory Camp, 45, the former Deputy Director of Criminal Justice, a straight supporter of gay marriage and the BF of Sonia Ossorio, who head's the NYC chapter of NOW.

So do I want an inexperienced openly gay "pup" (as one blog characterizes Kellner), or a experienced Yale lawyer and friend of teh gays? I've crossed party lines before (Bloomberg), but I'm a bit embarrassed to believe that my kneejerk reaction is to always go to the gay guy, regardless of qualifications. I'm gonna give Kellner a call and suss him out.

UPDATE: JMG reader (and my neighbor) Marcia points out a story in today's Gay City News that mentions that Kellner is actually bisexual and is in a long-term relationship with a woman at present. According to the article, Kellner, who has cerebral palsy, is a long-time advocate for the disabled and has worked for many Democratic causes, including being a member of the Reform Caucus, which pushed the state party into supporting same-sex marriage. Kullner has a partnered lesbian sister. This guy is rather interesting.

More Success For Clinton Foundation

Bill Clinton received a check for $1 million yesterday from the proceeds of Vienna's Life Ball, money that will be used to continue his work to provide low-cost AIDS medications to third world nations. Recently Clinton struck a deal with Indian drugmakers that will allow Thailand to buy meds for a fraction of their normal cost. Earlier this month, the William J. Clinton Foundation, in partnership with UNITAID, announced that they were now providing middle and low income nations with a first-line once-a-day pill for under a dollar. Now if we could only get to that dollar-a-day point here in the U.S.

Morning View - Keyspan

The ugliest blight on the NYC skyline is the Keyspan power plant on the East River in Queens. It's loud too, crackling and humming.

Acting!

Yeah, I'm not buying it either.

Talking Truth

Truth Wins Out, an organization devoted to exposing the lies of the "ex-gay" industry, has a new internet video campaign called "Talking Truth" which features several video testimonies from former members of Exodus, including this one from a fellow named Shawn, who describes how his Exodus group would cruise the mall for hot men. Visit the Truth Wins Out site for more videos.

Transmen Controversies

Transmen, female-to-male transexuals, continue to be barred from membership in Chicago's Hellfire BD/SM club, the largest of some 400 such clubs in the nation. Despite some internal dissent, including the resignation of the club's newletter editor, the membership recently voted to maintain their 10-year policy that "there must be a penal [sic] attachment." Hellfire is one of the few BD/SM clubs in country to have an active policy against FTMs.

Trans activists are questioning the legality of such a policy, citing Hellfire's open invitation to membership on their website and that the club is licensed by the city of Chicago, which has a gender identity ordinance. Transmen often do not have complete gender reassignment surgery, for a variety of reasons. Many leather transmen will be in Chicago this weekend for the International Mister Leather pageant, when Hellfire will be hosting several events of their own.

In a related story, Frameline, San Francisco's gay film festival, has yanked a screening of lesbian filmmaker Catherine Crouch's The Gendercator, after local trans activists complained that the film was transphobic. Crouch say her film is a "short satirical take on female body modification and gender," adding, "If this film is a flashpoint between lesbians and trans people, shouldn't it happen at Frameline? Shouldn't it happen in San Francisco?" Crouch, who describes her film as science fiction, says she is alarmed by the number of lesbians she sees transitioning into men and "how fast it is happening." Frameline has never removed a film from its schedule due to content in its 31-year history.

My take is that both Hellfire and Frameline are wrong. Transmen deserve the chance to be ignored at sex parties just like the rest of us. And while I haven't seen The Gendercator, censoring a film that seems to speak to a real sense of alarm among some lesbians only stifles the needed conversation as transmen continue to gain visibility.

Haliburton Junior, Jr.

Yesterday Mary Cheney and Heather Poe gave birth to a baby boy, Samuel David Cheney, seen here with his grandparents, Lynne and Shotgun.

I have to agree with Rex Wockner, who says, "I have to hand it to the Cheneys. For more than six years now they have been PFLAG parents to Mary and Heather and also somehow kept the religious-right, gay-bashing Republican base from throwing a deal breaker hissy about it. I watched the whole dance be performed step-by-step, I wrote about it on occasion, but, in the end, I haven't the foggiest idea how they pulled it off. How did they get away with it?"

Still no word on who the father may be. Family Pride is holding a digital baby shower for the future Haliburton heir, money he'll need since his mommy's book is now selling for FIVE CENTS on Amazon.

The View Blows Up

In her waning days on The View, Rosie O'Donnell has become more aggresive in confronting Bush-loving co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck. After Joy Behar reads a rather comprehensive list of Bush trangressions, asking "Why can't we get RID of this guy?", Rosie and Elizabeth really get into it. The local news interviewed audience members after the show, most of whom expressed discomfort with how personal the argument became.

HomoQuotable - Stephen Benjamin

"I was always discreet, I never considered it would be an issue. I thought if I don't say anything, they're not going to ask me. But it was more aggressive than I thought." - Arabic languages specialist Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Stephen Benjamin, who was dismissed from the Navy in another round of DADT-related firings. Benjamin admitted sending his former roommate in Iraq messages on a secure secret military computer system, where he discussed his dating life.

Benjamin: "I'd always had been out since the day I started working there. We had conversations about being gay in the military and what it was like. There were no issues with unit cohesion. I never caused divisiveness or ever experienced slurs." Straight members of his unit who used the computer for personal messages were disciplined but not dismissed. Some members of Congress, including Rep. Marty Meehan who is seeking the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", have asked for a hearing on the issue of Arab linguists, 58 of whom have been fired for being gay.

Morning View - Little Singer Building

Built in 1902, the art nouveau Little Singer Building on Broadway in Soho, where Singer sewing machines were built, was converted to retail, artist and loft spaces in 1979. The 41-story Singer Tower, built nearby in 1908, was for a short time the tallest building in the world, but was demolished in 1968, making it the tallest building in the world ever "legitimately" destroyed. Both were designed by Ernest Flagg, who also designed the Naval Academy (it's all-Navy week on JMG!) The L-shaped Little Singer has nearly identical facings on both Broadway and Prince Street.

They Want You As A New Recruit

This being Fleet Week in NYC, I'm reminded of a story from when I lived in Orlando, back when the Naval Training Center was open, circa 1982.

Phone rings......

Joe: Hello?

Woman: Is this Joe?

Joe: Yes, it is.

Woman: Joe, you don't know me, but I'm David's mother. He's sitting right here with me and he doesn't want to talk to you, but I'm calling on his behalf to let you know that he has Come.Back.To.The.Lord! (Praise Jesus!) David has been born again and is once again walking the path of the righteous! (Praise Jesus!) When his leave is over he will be restricted to the base under the guidance of his pastor and won't be seeing you anymore. (Praise Jesus!) I'm calling for him to let you know that we're both praying for you and that we hope that you too can return to the love of Jesus, who died on the cross for you.

Joe: Um, who's David?

It was a busy, busy time for me.
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Open Thread Thursday

What are you doing this summer?
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Evening View - 1st Avenue

First Avenue, looking northward from under the Queensboro Bridge at 59th Street. I live about 10 lights up, on the left.

California Chaos

Lady Random's wheel landed on #108, making this week's Swag Tuesday winner Thomas, who blogs from California at Oh, Manchester. Thomas sez: "Holy s---, I never win anything! Wow. I'm very excited to have won this week's Swag Tuesday - Edmund White is one of the best writers around and has been for decades, and should be considered a national treasure." Thanks very much to Avalon Publishing. Chaos by Edmund White is in stores now. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

$6.8M For NYC AIDS Walk

I'm a couple days behind on this, but AIDS Walk New York raised a record $6.8 million on Sunday, with the proceeds headed for GMHC and over 50 other HIV/AIDS organizations. Celebrities taking part included Cyndi Lauper, Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Cumming, T.R. Knight, and Lance Bass. A massive crowd of 45,000 walked this year, also a new record.

The Fleet Is In

Fleet Week 2007 begins today and the ships are beginning to pull in at Pier 90. Insert your tired "seaman" jokes below.

Bombs For Phelps

A Liberty University student was arrested at Jerry Falwell's funeral yesterday after police were tipped off by his family that he had brought bombs that he intended to throw at the Westboro contingent that was protesting at the event. The bombs were described as a soda-can sized "sort of napalm". Man, the gentle loving people of the Lord are ready to kill each other over who can hate more. (Photo via - Towleroad.)

PlanetOut Tumbles

Ouch. PlanetOut's stock price has nosedived since last week's earnings announcement, closing yesterday at $1.11, recovering slightly from an all-time low of $0.86 at midday. The 52-week high for the stock, which trades as LGBT, was $7.95.

O'Donnell Intro's NY Marriage Bill

Openly gay New York State Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell (Rosie's brother) introduced Gov. Elliot Spitzer's gay marriage bill to the state Assembly yesterday. The bill, which is expected to come to a vote in the next few weeks, needs 76 votes to pass. The Empire State Pride Agenda says 69 members have indicated support, 48 are undecided, and 33 have voiced oppostion. The bill will face much stronger opposition in the state Senate. O'Donnell's district covers the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Morning View - East River

It's hard to believe that people fish out of the East River, but they do. As it is a tidal strait, visitors to New York are sometimes baffled to see the East River rushing rapidly uptown, away from the sea. I always think that looks neat.

GB:NYC 4

The fourth annual gay bloggers meet-up takes place in NYC this weekend. Largely organized by Dallas-based bon vivant Zeitzeuge Mark, this year's drunkathon stretches over the holiday weekend.

Friday 9PM: Cocktails at Therapy in Hell's Kitchen, 348 W.52nd Street.

Saturday 2PM-6PM: Central Park picnic on Bear Hill above the roller-disco near the flagpole. Live DJs, wacky NYC characters, no alcohol allowed. (But plenty consumed. Suggestions: white wine in Sprite bottles, thermos margaritas, etc.) Bear Hill is just west of the bandshell. Enter at 72nd Street.

Saturday Late Night: The NYC Eagle's (NSFW) rooftop bar in Chelsea at 554 W.28th Street.

Sunday Beer Bust Blarg Hop: Beginning at the Dugout at 5pm, we will haul our sodden butts up 8th Avenue with hour-long ssshtops at Gym Bar, Rawhide, View Bar, finishing at the Eagle at 9PM. You may wish to take a cab from Dugout to Gym Bar.

If this GB:NYC goes like the previous three, there will be outrageous displays of drinking abilities and disabilities, with accompanying groping, macking, and hooking up. Please join us, all are welcome. Bloggers, let me know if you plan on attending and I'll add you to this post so that your stalkers know where to find you.

ATTENDING: Zeitzeuge, Queerty,VelleityNYC, Someone In A Tree, Palochi, Farmboyz, Mark Of Kane, Crash And Bryne, Traveling Spotlight, Habitat 67, Fox In The City, Cynically Optimistic, Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity. Cornelius-A-Go-Go. Glennalicious, See My Briefs. Ham & Cheese On Wry, The Ninth Circle Of Helen, Spamwise, Atari Age, More to come.

The Bearded Governor

Florida Governor Charlie "Closet" Crist has grown a beard and her name is Kelly. Yesterday they made their relationship known to the St. Petersburg Times, who gushed, "She's blond. She's tan. She's a mother of two, a former beauty queen who auditioned for NBC's Fear Factor by eating a live earthworm and hiding four lizards in her mouth."

During his election campaign Crist was dogged by persistent news stories about his gayness, including one that he'd had an affair with the 21-year old assistant of evil shrew Katherine Harris. Crist, who campaigned on a platform that included opposition to gay marriage, was quoted as saying, "Marriage is a sacred relationship. Like I had, before I got divorced." After he was elected, Crist softened his stance on gay marriage, saying that the state Republican party had better things to spend their money on.

Yesterday, Crist signed a bill moving Florida's election primary to January 29th, leaping ahead of the other traditional early primary states. Both parties have threatened to penalize Florida by removing half of their conventional delegates as Crist's move could force them to dramatically redraw their strategies. Florida's diverse and large population makes it a bellwether primary state and any candidate that did poorly in their new early primary would likely not survive to the next round. The bill also stipulates that all Florida voting machines must now provide a paper record of the votes.

As for Miss Kelly, I'll quote Andy Towle, "We wish her the best with his realness."
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Spinning Right Round

Dead Or Alive frontman Pete Burns, 47, is looking for a personal assistant to work on the set of his upcoming British reality show which begins filming in June. "Would you love to work for a celebrity? This role is not for the faint hearted! Are you highly efficient, motivated, organised, flexible, and thick skinned?!"

Burns continues his plastic surgery obsession, even after a botched 2006 lip surgery forced him to spend his life savings on reconstruction. Last year Burns divorced his wife of 20 years and is now living with a man. Did you know that Dead Or Alive is one of the most popular acts in Japan, where they've had 18 number ones? Brand New Lover still gets play in my iTunes.

Yellow To Green

NYC Mayor Bloomberg will announce today that all city taxis must be converted to gas/electric hybrids by 2012. Approximately 20% of the fleet will be converted every year until the target date. While I'm certain that taxi owners will transfer the cost of this conversion to city riders, with the exception of a couple of major missteps, Bloomberg continues to impress me.

Double Standards

FexEx/Kinko's, Vanderbilt Street, 8:30am

Male Hipster: I still can't believe you slept with him. I mean, he's cool and all, but...

Female Hipster: Well, clearly he's not completely gay.

MH: Nuh-uh. Once you've done it, you are all the way gay.

FH: Well, I guess that makes me a lesbian.

MH: That's HOT.

FH: Whatever, dude.
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Morning View - Toys R Us

The centerpiece of the gigantic Times Square Toys R Us is a three-story ferris wheel with passenger cars in shapes of popular toy brands: Hello Kitty, Cabbage Patch Kids, Barbie, etc. There's usually a long line to board and tickets are about $4. And no, I've never ridden it. There's also a giant animatronic T-Rex and a two-story Barbie Dream House.

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of Avalon Publishing, this week's swag prize is Chaos: A Novella and Stories, the new book from Edmund White, revered author of the must-have trilogy for fans of gay literature: A Boy's Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, and The Farewell Symphony. And many of you may fondly recall 1977's The Joy Of Gay Sex, which White coauthored with Charles Silverstein. (That book taught 18-year old Joe a lot.)

The press blurb for Chaos:

When a respected older man clings to the values and mores of the liberated 1970s, when he pursues sex relentlessly and his reputation suffers, Chaos ensues. White explores different aspects of aging, romance, and sex, inviting his readers to come with him to Florida, the Greek Isles, and Turkey — and into the chaotic gay demimonde of contemporary New York.

Enter to win Chaos by Edmund White by commenting on this post before midnight tonight. Only your first comment counts and please remember to leave your email. Publicists: if you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.
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Evening View - Jersey City

Downtown Jersey City as seen from Christopher Street. Jersey City's skyline has been growing steadily since 9/11, thanks to all the Manhattan companies that bailed. JC is the second-biggest city in the state, behind Newark, with about 240,000 residents. Interestingly, JC has no ethnic majority, all races are represently almost equally.

Bill Maher On Falwell

Bill Maher delivers the definitive (and hilarious) eulogy.

Global Relations

Saturday night I found myself chatting with a guy from Nottingham and a guy from Sydney, when naturally the conversation turned to American imperialism. I jokingly asked a friend nearby, "Quick, name five famous Australians." He hesitated and I added, "Besides Kylie." He said, "Oh, shoot. Um...there's her sister, Danni. Oh, and Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe." I said, "Don't forget Crocodile Dundee." Who actually isn't a person. And that's where we got stuck. I couldn't even come up with John Howard, the Prime Minister. The English guy said, "And who's from Nottingham?" My eyes lit up, but he jumped in, "Besides Robin Hood." Damn.

More Haloscan Issues

Again, the commenting system on this here website thingy is acting up. I've noticed that Haloscan has added a widget that notes how many people are viewing an individual comment box. If that's the cause of the current issue, there doesn't seem to be a way to disable that function. Boo.

Jimmy Carter Gets Pissed

Calling Bush the "worst president in history" in international relations, Jimmy Carter said yesterday: "We now have endorsed the concept of preemptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that sometime in the future our security might be endangered." This is considered to be the strongest denunciation of a sitting president by a former. Carter went on to tell the BBC that Tony Blair's support for Bush was "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient."

I love Jimmy Carter, always have.

Desperation Moves

In an "open letter to the black community" televangelist Rev. Harry Jackson Jr. is calling on African-Americans to oppose the Matthew Shepard Act, the Senate version of the LGBT-inclusive hate crimes bill that recently passed in the House. Jackson: "As a pastor, I am concerned about the potential of being charged with a crime as the result of the actions of someone who may have attended my church, heard my sermons, or read my articles. I, like other pastors, do not preach hate. The black church has historically preached love and repentance. I cannot, however, guarantee that a subjective interpretation of this hate crime legislation will not define my biblical messages as hate speech."

Jackson notes that the bill already has broad support from many with the black community, accusing those organizations of having been "influenced by the huge dollars that gay lobbyists bring to the political table." (I guess he's forgotten the huge grant his church got from Bush for his "healthy marriage" initiative.) Jackson has been a vocal supporter of the Bush regime and is considered their "go-to" guy for rallying support from evangelical blacks. There is still no apparent date set for the Senate vote on the hate crimes bill, which a recent poll shows enjoys broad popular support from the public.

RELATED: According to today's HRC alert, Christian activists are currently swamping Senate offices with calls to vote against the Matthew Shepard Act. Use the HRC template to contact your Senator and urge their support. My senators, Clinton and Schumer of New York, are on board. Are yours?
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New Record For Gas Prices

Gas prices are at an all-time high nationwide and when I took this picture a few days ago, I thought NYC probably had much higher prices. Not so much, the national average today stands at $3.20/gallon and in California the average price is $3.40. Still, adjusted for inflation, the 1981 average price of $1.31 would be $3.15 today.

Morning View - Narrowest House

The narrowest house in New York City, at 75 1/2 Bedford Street in Greenwich Village, is just 9.5 feet wide. Former residents of the house include poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, Margaret Mead, John Barrymore, and Cary Grant. The house is 36 feet deep and all three floors are open, without any actual rooms save a second floor bathroom. The house is assumed to have been built sometime prior to 1873, when it was first noted in city records. Before it was a home, the building was used a cobbler's shop and a candy factory. In 1999, it sold for $1.6 million. the Cherry Lane Theatre is two building away.

Soho Sunday

The Farmboyz and I spent the day down in Soho and the Village, where we scoped out rents, bakeries, and men, in that order. Shifting priorities, eh?