Alice Ghostley, 81

Beloved television sitcom character actress and Tony winner Alice Ghostley died yesterday at 81. Ghostley won the hearts of gay fans with her portayals of Esmerelda, the ditzsy witch of Bewitched ('69-'72), and Bernice Clifton, the stroke-addled senior befriended by the ladies of Designing Women ('87-'93).

Ghostley was a pioneer of early television, appearing in a 1957 musical version of Cinderella, in which Ghostley and Kaye Ballard played ugly step-sisters to Julie Andrews' title character. Ghostley's Broadway debut came in New Faces Of 1952 (a show that also starred Maggie Smith), and in 1965 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her performance in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. In 1978, Ghostley succeeded Dorothy Loudon as Miss Hannigan in the original Broadway run of Annie. Ghostley's film credits include To Kill A Mockingbird and Grease.

I adored Alice Ghostley. I have friends who still love to break into Bernice Clifton's trademark Designing Women song Black Man, Black Man. (Season Six audio here.) It's been a very tough year for TV's gay icons, hasn't it? We've lost Yvonne de Carlo, Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers, and John Inman - just to name a few.

Morning View - My Mezzuzah

Since today is Yom Kippur, I thought I'd show you my mezzuzah. Mah-mah-mah-my mezzuzah. It's my-i-i-i-i-whoa! (Sorry.) According to the rules, a mezzuzah must be affixed to the right side of a home's door frame, on the upper-third of the frame within three inches of the doorway opening. There's a little scroll of Torah verses inside mezzuzahs, whose presence on Jewish homes is commanded by Deuteronomy 6:9. It's a mitzvah, like not wearing flip-flops or Crocs should be.

Anyway, the mezzuzah was there when I moved in. Every apartment in my building has one - I do live on the optimistically named United Jerusalem Place, after all. I'd guess pretty much every apartment on the Upper East Side rocks the mezzuzah, not just those on streets named after hopeless causes.

I think Little David, my go-to man for all things musical theatre and Judaism, once told me that you're supposed to leave the muzzazah when you move out, but put a new one up when you move in. I would have asked him before making this post, but he's busy today fasting and avoiding electricity. (Check out David's rules for Yom Kippur.) Anyway, I suppose I would have taken mah-mah-mah-my mezzuzah down, being a "militant" atheist and shit, but it's more of a funky New Yorky thing to me than a piece of religious iconography. Plus, I've altered its contents to make it uniquely mine - now there's a little rolled-up Tom Of Finland drawing inside.

Meta-Time

You may not be as fascinated with statistics as I am. But this list from BlogWorldExpo caught my eye.

• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• Over 12 million Americans write blogs.
  
• 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• 9% of internet users say they have created blogs .
• 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog .
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs .
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day .
  
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs .
  
• 120,000 new blogs are created every day .
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 .
  
• 51% of blog readers shop online .
  
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week .

Egad, Technorati tracks 70 million blogs? No wonder my blogroll is so long. In the last year, JMG's Technorati rank (which fluctuates daily) has fallen from around 2300 to somewhere around 3831, despite my traffic almost doubling in that time - evidence of the continuing blogsplosion. Here's the current Top 100. Perez Hilton, at #14, remains the top "gay" blog, although some would argue whether his blog falls in that category. Andrew Sullivan is next at #81, with the same disclaimer. Technorati only posts their Top 100, but I'd imagine that Towleroad comes next, he's somewhere in the 600's. Anyway, this post is just an excuse to mention that JMG rolled over another million hits yesterday. Go me. I'm 3831, I'm 3831! Meh, doesn't have much of a ring to it.

HomoQuotable - Lisa Sanders

"I'm just very proud of my father. And to be a part of this. It's about equality, and he's doing the right thing, and I'm very confident in him." - Lisa Sanders, lesbian daughter of San Diego's Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders, who outed her during his press conference endorsing San Diego's pro-gay marriage resolution. (Via - Rex Wockner.)

Sanders is running for re-election in heavily-red San Diego. Here's hoping his change of heart regarding marriage equality does not cost him the election.

UPDATE: Rex Wockner objects to my characterization of San Diego as "heavily-red". Rex: "Although San Diego COUNTY has more red than blue registered voters (527,448 to 461,245) ... in the city itself, blue beats red 224,397 to 190,647. Interestingly, another 141,090 registered voters (such as myself) are 'decline to state,' meaning they have no declared party affiliation. Another 27,000 voters in the city are registered with minor parties." My apologies for the error.

When Eagles Dance

So I'm hearing that a certain West Chelsea leathertopia has finally gotten their cabaret license. The dance floor is being installed on the ground level right now. I wonder if it will be ready for the big pageant on October 7th? Insiders?

NYC Tests Early HIV Detection System

New York City is testing a new early detection system for HIV, which can identify the virus as soon as nine days after infection. People are at their most infectious immediately after acquiring the virus, a period called "acute infection", when they are 1000 times more able to transmit HIV to others.

From the NY Blade:

The trial system, called pooled blood testing, is available at three of the city’s 10 STD clinics: Chelsea in Manhattan, Fort Greene in Brooklyn and Morrisania in the Bronx. The standard or rapid HIV screening, including the oral swab, does not detect HIV during the acute stage; the new test does.

Pooled blood testing has been used in blood banks since 1999. Aside from the benefit of the infected person knowing of their hyper-infectiousness, if they start on anti-HIV meds immediately, some of the early (and most damaging) attacks on the immune system can be mitigated. Participation in the new test is voluntary and the test cannot be used those being tested anonymously.

NOTE: When was your last HIV test? Here are the locations for free confidential testing in NYC.

To The Tune of Centerfold

Songwriter M. Spaff Sumsion, whom you might recall for his classic take on Ted Haggard, Supertelevangelistic Sex And Drugs Psychosis, has done it again as he takes on Larry Craig with My Men's Room Date's A Senator. Here's the clip, performed by Robert Lund. Get the lyrics here.

An excerpt:

It's okay, I understand
You're still a Family Values man
But if you blame your real wide stance
You must wear ultra-stretchy pants

They'll make fun, yes they will
Let those bloggers mock us
But I'll stand up - or sit for you
And help you poll your caucus

Disney, Vegas, Minneapolis Airport

As has been reported on many news outlets, the Minneapolis airport bathroom in which Sen. Larry Craig was arrested has turned into quite a tourist attraction, with many airport visitors demanding to be directed to the lewdy loo. JMG reader Brian visited the Larry Craig Memorial Tearoom this week and sent me a picture of the famous toe-tapping stall, however this picture of Brian is much more pleasant to look at, don't you agree, gentle horny readers? Embiggen to, uh, embiggen.

Here's The Story Of Jan & Marcia

Pink News is reporting that according to an upcoming book by Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormick, during the show's run there was some "sexual play" between McCormick and her TV sister Eve Plumb.

The National Enquirer reports: "The most explosive comments will be how the then-blonde, blue-eyed cutie developed a crush on Eve Plumb, which led to some sexual play. This book will certainly come as a shocker. While Maureen is not a lesbian, she reveals there were some sexual hijinks going on behind the scenes. It's bizarre because she played such a virginal character on the show."

Make your "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" jokes now.

UPDATE: This story has now been debunked.

Broadway Friday

-Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will be raising funds via a Celebrity Booth and autograph line at this Sunday's Broadway Flea Market on Shubert Alley. Participating are show biz icons: Sir Ian McKellen, David Hyde Pierce, Bernadette Peters, Bebe Neuwirth, Cheyenne Jackson, JoAnne Worley, Beth Leavel, Debra Monk, Lynn Redgrave, Vanessa Regrave, Christine Ebersole, Mary Testa, and many more. Check here for appearance times.

-Hosted by Andrea McArdle, the New York Musical Theatre Festival's Broadway Idol has it's first round of competition at the Stitch Lounge tonight. Judges include Anthony Rapp and Marc Shaiman.

-As always, Wicked and Jersey Boys lead this week's grosses at over $1M each. Legally Blonde is is looking very wobbly at only 60% full houses.

-The star-studded The 24-Hour Plays On Broadway will be Oct.22nd at the American Airlines Theater on 42nd Street. Playwrights work overnight to create six 10-minute plays which are rehearsed and presented that evening. This year's show stars Rosie Perez, Billy Crudup, David Cross, Elizabeth Berkley, Michael Ealy, Anthony Mackie, Matthew Lillard, Kerry Washington, Mariska Hargitay, Peter Hermann, Mamie Gummer, Rachel Dratch, Janel Maloney, Fisher Stevens, Julia Stiles, Lili Taylor, Marlo Thomas and Nellie McKay.

-The City of New York renamed a portion of 53rd Street "Jerry Orbach Way" on Monday. The dedication was attending by Law & Order cast members and Orbach's widow. Before gaining fame as Law & Order's Lenny Briscoe, Orbach was a Tony Award winning star of Broadway.

Morning View - 1st & 75th

I Almost Got Sexed Tonight

Early this evening I was almost an extra in the Sex And The City movie, which is filming an outdoor restaurant scene on my street. Coming out of the Gracious Home hardware store, glamorously carrying a spray-bottle of Krud Kutter, I paused on the sidewalk to laugh at the dozens of silly women waving cell-cams in a vain hope of catching sight of Big and SJP.

A crew member marched down the sidewalk, yelling at people to get out the shot. And I was ready to comply when she barked, "Dammit, background needs to stay behind the tape!" Then she shooed me across some blue tape on the sidewalk over to a group of pretend Upper East Siders whom I presume were waiting for a cue to pretend they weren't waiting.

I stood there for about thirty seconds, thinking, "Oh, boy...is this great!" Then I thought, "Thank Zod I trimmed my beard today!" And then, "Shit. I would be dressed for scrubbing floors right now." Then I remembered why I'd cut my visit to the hardware store so short - I really, really had to pee. Ah, well. Fame is fleeting. Besides, my credit would have probably been "Old Janitor." Back to reality and grout removal.

HomoQuotable - Matt Foreman

"San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders' emotional statement brought me - and I know millions of other gay and lesbian people - to tears. Simply, directly, and most importantly from the heart, he said what we yearn to hear from our leaders - that our relationships are just as meaningful and just as deserving of the same protections as everyone else's. Mayor Sanders will go into the history books as a profile in courage and conviction. He stands in stark contrast to Governor Schwarzenegger's threatened veto of the marriage equality bill that will be on his desk within days and to leading Democratic presidential candidates who cannot bring themselves to say we are truly equal." - Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

Freepers: The Best Show On The Net

As you probably know, of all the right-wing batshit lunatic sites out there, nothing beats Free Republic. I read it like I read WingNutDaily and like I watch The 700 Club, purely for the gleeful entertainment value of seeing conservatives lose their shit.

Today's Freeper gem, as so many of them do, comes out their "Homosexual Agenda" file, in the responses to a horrifying story about a sexual assault committed by two pre-teen boys against a 7 year-old boy on their school bus in Michigan. Some commenters rightfully ponder the effects of a sexualized society on young children and some believe that the older boys have been molested by an adult. (My opinion, too.)

Others predictably blame discipline in the public school system or the "obvious" lack of religion in the attackers' lives. But many blame the gay rights movement for "normalizing" pre-teen boy on second-grader sexual attacks. Because, isn't that what we're all fighting for? And amusingly, very amusingly, they also blame somebody else. Here are the keepers of the Freepers' quotes as they elabocrazy on the cause of the attack:

-"Just remember where this all started. Oral sex became the norm with teenagers when it was ok’d by Bill the original pedophile Clinton. This behavior has now trickled down to seven, eight, and nine year olds."

-"It was not a sex act, ask President Clinton, who is more than willing to set the example for our country’s youth."

-" Nothing wrong here. It’s not sex. bill clinton told us so...."

-"If he didn't learn it because someone was molesting him it was via homo-sex-ed in school. So sad. Our culture is going down the sewer."

-"It should be obvious that this attack is the result of "gay" people ramming homosex down the throats of public schools. This is what they WANT, people!"

-"Some of these children are going to confuse their natural affection for their same-sex pals with ‘romantic’ feelings. This, I believe, is part of the plan of those adults who want to weaken traditional society, and strengthen the force of “alternative” lifestyles."

-"Blame the secular left. Vehemently, and with vengeance."

-"Another homo sex predator. Sigh."

-"Part of the left’s agenda is the destruction of the traditional family unit, with too many obvious examples to list. One method of destroying the family unit is to encourage children to develop “private” relationships outside of the family, especially sexual relationships."

As the saying goes, you can't make this shit up.

Inevitable

Get your commemorative police brutality t-shirt now. What'd that take, two days?

Loonies Now 1:1 Against USD

Your on-the-cheap Canadian vacations and shopping excursions are pretty much over, as the Canadian dollar hit one-to-one parity with the American dollar today, a benchmark it's been inching towards for the last year. Loonies haven't gone 1:1 against the USD since 1976. Topping that bit of bad news, the Euro also reached its all-time high against the USD today - $1.40. And the British pound is currently over 2:1 on the USD.

Mexico still seems to be a bargain, at least for now.

Review: Spiral Frog Mostly Sucky

Last night I tinkered around with Spiral Frog, the just-launched and super-hyped "free" music and video download service lauded on some sites as the music industry's savior from illegal downloading. The site is supported by advertising (banners and sidebars, but mercifully - no rolling stock) and the ad revenue is shared with their music company partners. So far the only major label to sign up is Universal, although many small and indie labels are on board. According to Spiral Frog, their inventory currently stands at 800,000 songs and 3500 videos, with "more added daily."

After registration (very simple), I trolled around their new releases column and immediately picked up a new Gary Numan track, Dominion Day (Extended Mix). The track downloaded in about 90 seconds, but the download manager wouldn't let me assign the track to my external drive, forcing me to park it on my busting-at-the-seams C-drive. Boo. Playing the track pops up a Windows Media player (with an embedded ad, natch) with no slide-bar for advancing the track. Boo. But the Numan track was pretty good, so yay.

The "Top Downloads" section seems to have lots of the current hit artists - Fergie, Gwen Stefani, Maroon 5, Rihanna -but that stuff doesn't interest me much so I hit their "Artists" archive section where I found no search function, just an alphabetical listing that forces you to scroll through hundreds of acts under each letter. Boo. [Update: there IS a search box. Just didn't see it. D'oh!] On the other hand, such scrolling can reveal an artist you'd forgotten or didn't know about, which is how I found two albums by Alexandra Billings, the excellent trans cabaret singer who occasionally comments on JMG. So, yay. But on the other other hand, solo artists are filed by first name and all bands that start with "The" are filed under "T", bucking several decades of record store protocol. Boo.

Does iTunes files their acts like that? I can't remember and I CAN'T CHECK because loading Spiral Frog has completely trashed my iTunes. Won't open. DEATH BOO. Other icky stuff: If you don't login at least once a month, their DRM vaporizes everything you've downloaded. (Weren't you "paying" for the tracks by viewing the ads?) Also, the tracks cannot be transferred to your iPod (only Windows-approved Plays For Sure devices), and you can't burn tracks to CD.

You won't find Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Bob Mould, Erasure or many other acts popular with teh gays on Spiral Frog, for now anyway. But I did find complete discographies from Donna Summer and Diana Ross, plus a smattering of albums from Bjork, Madonna, Morrissey (no Smiths), and other gay-interest acts. For now, Spiral Frog might be best for discovering new or indie acts. IF, that is, you are willing to endure the crapola listed in the previous paragraph. I'm not.

San Diego's Republican Mayor Changes His Mind About Gay Marriage

Just one day after pledging to veto Tuesday's pro-gay marriage resolution by the San Diego City Council, Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders abruptly switched gears yesterday and signed the resolution, outing his lesbian daughter in the process.

Fighting back tears, Sanders told reporters, "Two years ago, I believed that civil unions were a fair alternative. Those beliefs, in my case, have since changed. The concept of a 'separate but equal' institution is not something that I can support." Sanders said that he wanted his daughter and other gay people he knows to have their relationships equally protected under the law, adding, "In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships — their very lives — were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife."

Sanders has been otherwise supportive of gay rights and has appeared in San Diego's gay pride parades. His daughter, who is in a relationship, came out to him four years ago, but was not out publicly until Sanders' revelation on Wednesday. San Diego, the nation's 8th largest city, now joins San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Long Beach among California cities officially supporting marriage equality.

Thank Mayor Sanders by emailing him at JerrySanders@SanDiego.gov or calling his office at (619) 236-6330. Read the complete transcript of Sanders' emotional press conference over on San Diego resident Rex Wockner's blog.

UPDATE: Watch Mayor Sanders almost break down making his announcement. It's a beautiful thing. I'm completely verklempt, seriously. Could he be California's next governor?

Open Thread Thursday

Brag. Boast. Pimp.

Bloggers, tell us what your blog is about. Link your favorite work.
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CA Gays Rally For Marriage

From the LA Gay & Lesbian Center: "Chanting 'Sign AB 43, equal rights for you and me' more than 200 activists on Tuesday marched to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame where they left pens and urged him to sign legislation ending discrimination against gay and lesbian couples who wish to marry their partners."

You can urge the governor to support equality and sign the legislation by calling him at 916-445-2841 or by sending him an e-mail and select "gender neutral marriage bill" from the drop-down subject box.

Contempt, Jail Time For Adoption Attempt

The ACLU is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to intervene in the case of a local county judge who blocked an adoption after finding out that the adoptive mother lived with her lesbian partner of seven years. Elizabeth Hadaway returned the child to her biological mother, who upon seeing how distraught the child was at the separation, insisted that Hadaway retain custody. Hadaway ended her relationship with her partner, moved to a different county and reapplied for custody, prompting the original judge to cite her for contempt and sentencing her to jail for five to ten days. Despite that, Hadaway persisted and in May she finally won legal custody in her new county. The ACLU is asking that the contempt citation and jail sentence be dismissed.

Caption This

Chaka Khan Shouts Out To JMG

Chaka Khan sends a shout out to JMG readers to hype the Sept. 25th release of Funk This. It's been ten years since Chaka's last studio album and as the track that follows Chaka's shout-out shows, we are in for a rare and overdue treat. Chaka is made of awesome. You baby mo's out there - get schooled on what a true R&B diva sounds like.

Chaka's message to JMG.

Jesus Christ, Superstud

Dark Alley Media is releasing a porn version (NSFW) of the Jesus story. We can't get a plot synopsis from the site for the movie, which mistakenly tells the plot of a previous Dark Alley movie, Gaytanemo, in which "an unsuspecting German tourist is mistaken for a terrorist, abducted, and taken to the sexiest secret military detention center ever."

However, Queerty has posted an interview with Passio director Matthias von Fistenberg (no, really) who says, “My Jesus is gay, stunningly beautiful and sexy. He gets aroused like all of us. The movie is a gospel, passio, version of the Jesus story according to me.”

Dan Savage posted about Passio yesterday and here are a few Scriptural comments from his readers :
-"This is my body, eat."
-"Turn the other cheek, Jesus. TURN IT!"
-"Suffer the little children, cum onto me."
-"Knock and it will be opened to you."

Sacrilege makes me happier than just about anything in the world. I guess that makes me a bad person.

Q: Why Are Pirates So Hot?

A: They just arrrrrrrrr.

You're. Welcome.

September 19th: International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Morning View - BOA Tower

The Bank Of America Tower at 6th Avenue and 42nd Street is coming along nicely since I first mentioned it last August. When completed, it will be the second tallest building in NYC, due to its spire, but will have only 55 floors.

Being constructed with tax-free Liberty Bonds, intended to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9/11, the BOA Tower is not without controversy. However, the public's imagination (and mine!) has been captured by some unique aspects to the tower, which include a giant wind turbine at its top, which is claimed will be able to provide 70% of the building's electricity needs. Builders also claim that the building's air purification system will exhaust cleaner air than enters the building, rendering the tower as one giant air filtration system for the city.

Good Work Wednesday

A weekly recap of coming events that benefit the LGBT community.....

LOS ANGELES: The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force holds their Los Angeles Leadership Awards on Sept. 30th at the Beverly Hills Hotel. This year's honorees: Christine Chavez, Judy Chu. Get tickets here.

NYC: Today: 10am - 6pm, NYC's first LGBT career fair, Out At Work, takes place today at Metropolitan Pavilion. Meet recruiters from FDNY, NYU, Google, KPMG, HRC, HSBC, others.

NYC: Gay Men's Health Crisis' annual flea market is Sept.29th. Volunteers needed. Donate items at the the GMHC office on West 24th Street.

NYC: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS holds their annual flea market Sunday, Sept. 23rd on Shubert Alley, just off Times Square. Meet Broadway stars and pick up collectible costumes, original scripts, autographs and more.

DC: National lesbian health group The Mautner Project hosts their 14th Annual Gala Dinner & Reception on Sept. 29th at the Hilton Washington. Tickets here.

LOS ANGELES: Gay teen suicide helpline The Trevor Project hosts a fundraiser at The Comedy Store on Sept.24th. For tickets to Monday/Funday Trevor Comedy Benefit, click here.

LOS ANGELES: Lambda Legal's West Coast Liberty Awards takes place Oct. 2nd at the Directors Guild Of America. This year's honorees: Alan Cumming, David Bohnett, Rev. Susan Russell.

LOS ANGELES: The Gay & Lesbian Straight Education Network's Respect Awards on Oct. 12th will honor individuals and corporations who have helped move the work of GLSEN foward. This year's honorees: Dr. Neal Baer, Greg Berlanti, James C. Hormel, Sheila Kuehl.
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Let Me Borrow That Top

YouTube gay favorite Kelly has finally done a video for Let Me Borrow That Top. The song's title phrase will no doubt be heard many times at September 30th's Folsom Street Fair where Kelly will be performing for the leathered masses alongside Imperial Teen, Ladytron, The Start, and many others. The musical lineup at Folsom has been just stellar for the last couple of years.

This new clip doesn't compare to 2006's Shoes, which is arguably the funniest and best loved YouTube clip in the history of teh gays, but it does feature cameos by characters from the entire Kelly canon. Note: video is SFW, but audio is not.

UF Student Tasered And Arrested At John Kerry Speech

Andrew Meyer, a University of Florida student, was pulled away from the microphone and tasered by six cops after attempting to question former presidential candidate John Kerry regarding why he did not contest his loss to Bush in 2004 and about his membership in Skull & Bones, a secretive society at Yale University that counts Bush I and Bush II among its many noted and notorious alumni.
News and video of the arrest immediately was posted on Meyer's blog by his friends. According to witness accounts, Meyer was in line at the microphone set to be the last to give Kerry a question, but he protested when the moderator told the person in line in front of Meyer that his would be the last question taken by Kerry. Meyer complained and Kerry agreed to an additional question. When Meyer exceeded his time limit but would not relinquish the microphone, the police attempted to remove him. As seen in the video, Meyer resisted, resulting in his arrest. What is not apparent is why with six cops on top of him, the police felt the need to taser the handcuffed Meyer several times, as his screams on the tape attest as audience members shouted "police brutality!"

Today Kerry issued this statement: "In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."

Meyer has been charged with disturbing a public event and is to be released by Alachua County police today. An investigation will be launched into whether the police used appropriate force. This story has been getting major play in the right-wing blogosphere today as "proof" of stifled dissent among liberal ranks.

Governator: The Veto Vill Be Bahck

I'm hoping this news won't dissuade anybody from attending tonight's marches and rallies, but the Governator has announced that he will once again veto California's marriage equality legislation. Yesterday, Schwarzenegger said that he would only approve gay marriage if voters overturned 2000's Proposition 22, which banned same-sex marriage, but which courts have said only applied to those married out-of-state.

Geoff Kors of Marriage Equality reacted to Schwarzenegger's announcement: "We're extremely disappointed he is taking a position on the bill without meeting with a single lesbian-gay family, as we have asked him to do the last two years."

In related news, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled today that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marriage. HRC's Joe Solmonese: "This is a setback in the fight for equality, but we remain confident that, ultimately, same-sex couples in Maryland who form committed relationships and build loving families will receive the same protections that the state provides to married opposite-sex couples. It’s up to fair-minded legislators in Annapolis to do the right thing by ending discrimination against same-sex couples and their families. We urge Maryland’s legislature to pass a bill extending marriage to same-sex couples, so that these families can receive the important protections they deserve."

It's a lose-lose day for the movement. Sad face icon: here.

Christine Pedi, Diva Impressionist

Little David hipped me to this hilarious clip of Forbidden Broadway's Christine Pedi channeling a slew of divas as they would have performed And I'm Am Telling You. Pedi's Little Edie and Bernadette Peters had me on the floor. Pedi's one-woman cabaret act, Great Dames, recently played NYC's Metropolitan Room.

HomoQuotable - Rex Wockner

After Jerry Lewis' "illiterate fag" flap, reporter Rex Wockner was reading an LA Times interview with GLAAD's Marc McCarthy, who was asked by Times columnist Meghan Daum if it wasn't time to "reclaim the f-word".

Daum: I asked McCarthy if GLAAD had given any thought to the concept of "taking back" words like the f-word. I mentioned, for instance, that I had recently seen a T-shirt that said, "Marriage is for Fags." I told him I found this to be a brilliant subversion not only of right-wing, anti-gay dogma but of certain reactionary liberal positions that equate marriage with patriarchal oppression. In other words, it cut through the hyperbole of both sides of the issue and landed squarely (if ever so subtly) in the pro-gay marriage camp. McCarthy did not share my enthusiasm.

"That's upsetting," he said. "You're sending a confusing message to the straight community. By having a word that we're trying not to advocate next to a word like marriage . . . it's just wrong on so many different levels."

McCarthy was careful to mention that he isn't gay but is a "straight ally" of the LGBT community, which, he said, simply means that you're supportive of the community and an advocate for tolerance. I would also put myself in this camp, but does that mean I'm not allowed to like that T-shirt? And what about the fact that some of the most celebrated straight allies in the world are unblinkingly referred to as "fag hags?"

Wockner reacted on his blog: "Talk about wrong on so many levels. Starting with, should the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation have a straight senior director of communications? Especially if he's a straight guy who completely lacks the gay humor gene? You can order your "Marriage is for fags" T-shirt here."

Wockner raises two very interesting questions. Is it time to reclaim "faggot" as we successfully did a decade ago with "queer"? I remember being amused that Dan Savage's sex advice column was called Hey, Faggot! (until he was pressured (I think) into changing it to Savage Love). Is Wockner right in that we need to lighten up and have a better sense of humor about the f-word? Or is it now like the n-word, acceptable for use only within the community, even though many within still object? And can a straight guy be effective in a leadership position in a gay rights organization?

CORRECTION: Dan Savage emailed me to correct me about the name of his column...

Hey, Joe...

The column was Savage Love from day one. For the first five-ish years the letters all began with "Hey, Faggot." I eventually dropped it on my own -- pissing off papers that had fought to keep it (particularly in SF) -- because the joke was stale. It was a reference to the Queer Nation era, the time when there was an active, lively debate about reclaiming hate words like faggot, dykes, sissy, and queer. When that debate faded away (Queer Nation won -- see "dyke march," "marriage is for fags," "queer studies," etc.), I decided to drop the salutation from the column.

But i still use "fag" in the column, almost constantly.

JMG: My apologies to Dan for the mistake.

Self-Hate Crimes

A year ago, I wrote about the murder of gay New Yorker Michael Sandy, who died after being struck by a car as he ran from four gay-bashers who had lured him to a Brooklyn park by picking him up on a gay chat site. After Sandy died from his injuries, police upgraded the charges to second-degree murder with hate crimes embellishments.

Yesterday during his opening remarks, the lawyer of one of the three men standing trial (the fourth pled guilty and is testifying against them) surprised the court when he declared that the hate crimes charge should be dropped against his client, Anthony Fortunado, 21, because Fortunado is gay himself and was "only looking for sex" the night he hooked up online with Sandy. According to the attorney, Fortunado had planned on coming out to his three accomplices on the night of the murder.

According to his confessed co-murderer, Fortunado and his co-defendants read the account of Sandy's death in the newspaper and Fortunado joked about the way Sandy died. Even if Fortunado's claim of being gay is true, I can't see why this still isn't a hate crime. If we let every gay basher who is gay himself off the hate crimes hook, what's the point of having gay hate crimes laws at all? As most of you know, the cold tragic fact of hate crimes against gays is that they are very often committed by those who hate their own gayness.

UPDATE: It now appears that Fortunado may indeed by gay. Police confiscated a "cache of homoerotic images and messages" on Fortunado's home computer.

Morning View - Lincoln Building

Across 42nd Street from Grand Central Terminal, the 55-story neo-Gothic Lincoln Building was completed in 1930. A contemporary of the Empire State and the Chrysler, the Lincoln is often overlooked due to its prettier, flashier neighbors, but is quite striking nonetheless. It's hard to get a good shot of the Lincoln from the ground, as is frustratingly the case with many of Gotham's most interesting buildings. For a better photo than mine, go here. The Lincoln's occupants are heavy on corporate lawyers and there's a 15,000 volume law library off the lobby which is exclusively for the use its tenants.

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of here! Networks, this week's Swag Tuesday prize is an advance DVD copy of Nine Lives, the sexy new here! movie starring out actor Steve Callahan. Nine Lives will be released October 2nd. View the trailer here.

Based on Michael Kearn's play "Complications", this sexually provocative and tenderly executed film focuses on nine individuals whose lives intersect emotionally, sexually, and dangerously over the course of one day. For those of you in Southern California, Outfest is having a special cast and crew screening to celebrate the DVD release on Tues, Oct 16 - 7:30pm at the Rigler Theater. For more information on the screening, go here.

About Steve Callahan: Steve originated the role of Corey in the stage production Complications. He has appeared on screen in The Crow: Salvation and in the HBO film Dinner With Friends. Steve had a recurring part on the television series Pacific Blue. He performed in Scotland in the Edinburgh Theatre Festival. Steve comes from Ohio, where he received a BA in Theatre from The Ohio State University. Steve has been touring internationally with the Terrence McNally play Corpus Christi. He just returned from Edinburgh, Scotland and will next be going to Dublin, Ireland. Steve will next be seen on screen in a lead role in the gay romantic comedy East Side Story. For Nine Lives, Steve was named Best Supporting Actor at the Tampa International Film Festival.

Enter to win your copy of Nine Lives by commenting on this post. Only your first comment counts and please remember to leave your email address. Publicists: if you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Brett Somers, 83

Brett Somers, whose cigarettes, wigs, and bawdy wit were ever-present on 70's game show Match Game, turning her into a minor gay icon, died Saturday at 83. Viewers of the show may recall that Somers herself was often the subject of the show's questions, as in "Brett got so drunk at the party, that she tried wear her _____ as a hat." When she was stuck for an answer to a question, Somers also had a propensity for answering with "boob" or "tinkle", usually when it didn't even make sense in the context of the question, making it even funnier.

Somers also made appearances on many other shows such as Love American Style, CHiPs, The Love Boat, Mary Tyler Moore, and The Odd Couple - where she played opposite her real-life husband Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison) as his estranged wife. Life imitated art when she and Klugman separated in 1974, although they never divorced. Earlier this year Somers' Match Game cast-mate Charles Nelson Reilly died at age 75. Here's a 2002 Early Show clip of Somers, Reilly and Betty White reminiscing about their years on Match Game.

Tomorrow: LA Gay Center's March And Rally For Gay Marriage

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Marriage Equality has posted a list of cities across California who are also staging marches and rallies on Tuesday, September 18th. Click here to find your city and where to stage for the demonstration.

Tuesday, September 18th (tomorrow), the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center will sponsor a march and rally in support of the recently approved California gay marriage legislation, now poised for a second veto by Gov. Schwarzengger.

Don't Do A Veto Sequel!

To urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign legislation ending discrimination against gay and lesbian couples who wish to marry their partners, hundreds of supporters of marriage equality will rally at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and march down Hollywood Blvd. to Schwarzenegger’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The California legislature has again passed historic legislation that would end the state’s discriminatory practice of denying gay men and lesbians the right to marry and Gov. Schwarzenegger is slated to get the bill this week. In 2005, the governor sacrificed the civil rights of an entire community to appease the most right-wing elements of his party and vetoed the measure. This year, the LGBT community, its allies and fair-minded citizens through the state are urging him not to do a “veto sequel!” and to respect the will of the people as represented through the legislature.

Veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner has posted an eloquent letter to the Governator, asking him to consider his legacy, especially in light of a recent embarrassment suffered by former Gov. Pete Wilson at his statue unveiling, where gay and Latino activists showed up by the hundreds to jeer. An excerpt:

[W]hen the history books are written, Governor, the anti-gay bigots are going to be remembered in the same way we remember racists today. As an embarrassment from a less-enlightened, less-evolved era of U.S. history. I know you don't want to be in the same chapter as George Wallace in a textbook students will read 50 years from now.

Read the rest of Wockner's letter. And if you are in Southern California tomorrow, please consider attending the march and rally. In Hollywood, perhaps more than anywhere else, good PR works.

ACLU Gets Behind Larry Craig

The ACLU has filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of disgraced Republican Sen. Larry Craig, urging that the toe-tapping legislator withdraw his guilty plea because the restroom sting that resulted in his arrest was unconstitutional.

"The real motive behind secret sting operations like the one that resulted in Senator Craig’s arrest is not to stop people from inappropriate activity. It is to make as many arrests as possible – arrests that sometimes unconstitutionally trap innocent people," said Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "If the police really want to stop people from having sex in public bathrooms, they should put up a sign banning sex in the restroom and send in a uniformed officer to patrol periodically. That works."

According to the ACLU's brief, solicitation for sex intended to take place in private, whether the solicitation takes place in a restroom or in a bar, is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. Arrests should only take place if it is very clear that the sex is intended to take place in public, something not evident in the Craig case.

"Senator Craig has not always been a great friend of civil liberties, but you shouldn’t have to endorse the civil liberties of others to keep your own," said Romero. "Government should make public restrooms safe for all, but it should do so in a manner that is really designed to stop inappropriate behavior, rather than destroying the lives of people who might have no intention of doing anything illegal."

As much as we've all enjoyed the Craig circus, the ACLU is dead-on here, of course. The Craig arrest was a bullshit case to begin with and unrelated to his job performance. I'd like to see him survive this scandal because of the entrapment, but also because I'd love to see the GOP burdened with his sorry ass for another year.

Gay Bars Wither, Where Is This Going?

For several months I've been meaning to suggest here that somebody should consider entering Orlando's under served gay bar scene. In the last six months, three very long-running Orlando institutions have closed: Faces (a lesbians-only bar), Southern Nights (a disco/drag bar that I haunted regularly in the early 80's), and Full Moon Saloon (the country/disco/bear bar and host of the popular annual Bear Bust event.) All three places were fairly popular right until their demise, but closed due various reasons - building code/tax issues and the death or retirement of the owners. Also gone is the Lava Lounge, a fun and quite popular place owned by four acquaintances of mine who decided on a whim five years ago that owning a gay bar might be a fun diversion. Lava's lease ended earlier this year and the partners decided to go out winners. The eternal Parliament House, like Cher and cockroaches, will survive a nuclear war and remains busy.

A couple of days ago, the Orlando Sentinel took note of the dearth of gay bars there, interviewing a couple of the owners of surviving nightspots, mentioning that major gay bars are closing down all around the country. One Orlando bar owner blames the internet, of course, but the story primarily focuses on successful integration of gays into society and speculates on whether a need for gay-only bars will continue at all. As I've discussed here previously, it seems that we've at least seen the end of the gay mega-disco, as real estate prices and neighborhood gentrification have shuttered such institutions as NYC's Roxy, DC's Nation, SF's Universe/Pleasuredome, South Beach's Salvation, and many others. Most major American cities no longer have a single gay dance palace that can hold thousands. And many used to have several.

But are we also seeing a real societal change, something outside of the deleterious effects wrought upon the bar scene by meth and Manhunt? Perhaps, but as odd as it may seem, I hope not. I know it's terribly unprogressive of me, but I don't particularly want to see us get to a place where gay bars are no longer "needed" or desirable. I know the "post-gay" young'ens will chime in here, proclaiming that they just don't have fun at gay-only bars, that they don't want to disinclude their het friends from their social life. That's admirable, that's a good thing, but still I think that the loss of a vibrant gay bar scene, always and still (albeit to a smaller degree) the heart and soul of gay culture, would be a tragic thing.

Broadway On Broadway

Yesterday, Little David and I attended Broadway On Broadway, the annual free concert in Times Square that showcases the casts of hit shows. Weather was great, a little chilly at times, but we were miles away from the stage. The sound system was fine in our location, but quite annoyingly the video screens were out of sync with the sound for most of the show. Lance Bass proved a capable (if bland) host, although he didn't perform, unlike last year's host, Martin Short.

Bass did give the audience an unintended chuckle when he tripped over his cue cards, saying that Hairspray was where he'd made his "broad debut." The highlight of the show was Drowsy Chaperone's Tony winner Beth Leavel belting out As We Stumble Along, my favorite song from the show. The photo above shows the confetti shower during the finale sing-along of New York, New York. The wind actually deposited most of the confetti blocks away, not on the crowd. I posted a one-minute video of the finale on YouTube.

The Captain Has Turned Off The "No Toe-Tapping" Sign

Air New Zealand has announced a promotion aimed at the gay market. Passengers departing San Francisco for Sydney's gay Mardi Gras on February 26th will be treated to an in-flight drag show, pink cocktails, and other "in-seat" (ahem) entertainment including gay-friendly movies. There will be a pre-boarding party called "Get on board, girlfriend." Groan. Still, sounds like a riot. The flight crew will also make sure that there's plenty of down-time during the 16-hour flight, as they know "the passengers will want to get their beauty sleep." The roundtrip flight will run about $1000.

Morning View - Bryant Park

The last remnants of fall's Fashion Week remain at Bryant Park where the massive lawn is covered twice a year for three weeks at a time. It takes ten days to set up the tents, the events run for eight days, then it's another five days to restore the park. This was supposed to be the last year that Fashion Week would be staged at Bryant Park, something that is rumored every year, but the producers just got another two-year extension.

Rice & Bean

Via Michelangelo Signorile, I've been following the unfolding story about the latest revelations regarding the personal life of Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice. On Thursday's SiriusOutQ show, Signorile hosted Glenn Kessler, author of The Confidante: Condoleeza Rice And The Creation Of The Bush Legacy, in which Kessler uncovers some heretofore unknown details of Rice's closely guarded private life.

According to Kessler, Rice's closest male friend is Coit D. Blacker, an openly gay political science professor at Stanford (where Rice served as provost for six year on the '90s) and a Democrat who served in the Clinton administration. To paraphrase Signorile, them there's some strange bedfellows, considering Blacker's "best friend" works for a man who's trying to write his second-class citizenship in the Constitution.

But even more intriguing is the revelation that Rice owns a house and shares a line of credit with a woman named Randy Bean (pictured), an unmarried liberal filmmaker who also works at Stanford and once worked for Bill Moyers. Kessler found the house ownership information by researching real estate records. In the book, Bean explains that Blacker and Rice helped her buy the house because Bean had suffered financial setbacks due to medical bills. Blacker later sold his share of the house to the two women with Rice later helping establish the credit line to fund renovations of the home.

Signorile:

Where to begin? For the record, in the book Kessler goes into the long-discussed rumors about Rice and the few times her sexual orientation has been gossiped about or discussed in the media, but he also talks about how single, older (heterosexual) women often "unfairly" have their sexual orientation questioned, and says in the book that Rice has been the target of "nasty attacks" in this regard. He mentions that she was linked to a man once -- back in college. Even if Rice is heterosexual, however, it is fascinating and mind-boggling that this woman whose best male friend is an openly gay liberal and whose best female "friend" is a "liberal progressive," would work for a president who has opposed every gay rights initiative and tried to enshrine religious hatred in the Constitution. What does it say about them as well?

It will be very interesting to see if the mainstream media touches this story. So far, I've only seen it on gay and leftist blogs, all of whom reference the Signorile piece.

Seth Green On Chris Crocker