Morning View - Madison & 23rd

Logo Tonight: Foreman Discusses ENDA

NGLTF director Matt Foreman will appear on Logo tonight to discuss Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), transgender inclusion and the new Baldwin amendment.

Tune in tonight, Oct. 19, for an interview with CBS News on Logo's Jason Bellini and Matt Foreman streaming online at approximately 6:30 p.m. (EST) followed by a television segment on CBS/Logo News at approximately 7:57 p.m. Logo will air and stream a CBS News on Logo interview tonight with Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc.

Foreman will discuss the grassroots activism shown in the formation and work of United ENDA, a coalition of more than 325 LGBT organizations representing more than 2 million people. United ENDA opposes any employment nondiscrimination bill that does not include transgender people.

United ENDA has been at the center of a recent controversy about transgender inclusion in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which the House of Representatives is expected to consider early next week. A bill that does not include transgender protections has passed out of committee and is expected to come to a floor vote in the coming week. U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is expected to introduce an amendment to include transgender people in the bill and there is a current groundswell of support for this effort.

Debbie Harry Announces Tour Dates

Shell-shocked supersonic blonde. Hyperphonic female, dark sunglasses on. Debbie Harry has announced the tour dates in support of her new album, Necessary Evil, which is her first album in 14 years.

What's your favorite solo song by Ms. Harry? My vote would be 1987's freestyle (yes!) mix of In Love With Love. And we always loved mis-singing, Fresh Dressing In The USA. She's 62! Unbelievable.

Tour Dates:

11/8, New York, NY (The Fillmore at Irving Plaza)
11/9, Glenside, PA (Keswick Theater)
11/10, Ledyard, CT (Foxwoods Casino)
11/13, Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
11/14, Asheville, NC (Orange Peel)
11/16, Miami, FL (Jackie Gleason Theatre)
11/17, Tampa, FL (Tampa Theatre)
11/20, Milwaukee, WI (Turner Hall)
11/23, Toronto, ON (Phoenix Theater)
11/24, Indianapolis, IN (Vogue)
11/27, Tulsa, OK (Brady Theater)
11/28, Dallas, TX (House of Blues)
11/30, Kansas City, MO (Ameristar Casino)
12/1, Denver, CO (Bluebird Theatre)
12/4, Anaheim, CA (House of Blues)
12/7, Los Angeles, CA (Henry Fonda Theater)
12/8, Las Vegas, NV (Santa Fe Station Casino)
12/9, San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore)

Crazy Clockin'

Duane Reade, 1st & 72nd, Thursday, 9PM

A 20's-ish goth chick, possibly homeless, definitely drug-addled, is singing a Suzanne Vega-ish stream-of-consciousness shopping song to herself. The final word of each line of her song is preceeded by a 2-second pause.

I'm in the drug......store.

But I don't need....drugs.

I need a soh....dah.

(A woman walks past her.)

There's a lay.....dee.

She's buying hair.....spray.

(I pull a 12-pack of Diet Coke off the shelf)

There's a gay.....dude.

He's on a die...et.

Hey, coulda been worse.
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HomoQuotable - Ian McKellen

"I didn’t realize, as a gay man, that I’d be a criminal once I arrived - because it’s illegal for a man to make love to another man in Singapore. I was rather naughty because I was on an early morning show… At the end of the interview, they asked what was I looking forward to doing while I was in Singapore. And I looked at the man, who was clearly straight, and said, `Can you recommend any decent gay bars?’, which would be illegal in every possible way. I looked at the playback of the program afterwards and I’ve never seen the credits come up so quickly!" - Ian McKellen, speaking about appearing on Singaporean television.

(via - Queerty.)

Caption This

Taliban Down, Boy Sex Up

The ancient tribal tradition of sexually abusing boys is surging in northern Afganistan.

The practice of "bacha baazi", meaning "boy-play", is enjoying a resurgence in the North of Afghanistan where ownership is seen as a status symbol by militia leaders according to Afghan news site, e-Ariana.

While condemned by clerics and human rights groups, authorities are doing little to end it.

Dancers, known as "bacha bereesh" or "beardless boys", are under 18, with 14 being the "ideal" age. Owners or "kaatah" meet at bacha baazi parties in large halls where the boys dance late into the night, before being sexually abused. Bacha baazi also serve as marketplaces, with good-looking boys being traded for money.

"Some men enjoy playing with dogs, some with women. I enjoy playing with boys," said 44-year-old Allah Daad, a one-time Mujahedin commander in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, who participates in bacha baazi.

"I am married, but I prefer boys to women," he adds. "You can't take women with you to parties in this region, and you can't make them dance. These boys are our prestige."

Often poor and orphaned, the boys are lured into bacha baazi by money. Some receive a monthly allowance while others have jobs of their own and only work at parties. Many are treated to expensive clothes and even cars by owners eager to have them reflect their own wealth and social standing. But if they refuse to perform or don't meet their owners expectations, they are beaten.

Some blame the U.S. presence in Afganistan in contributing to the abuses, as American troops quell the influence of the local Taliban, who ban the practice elsewhere as against Islamic law. As those who organize the "beardless boys" bazaars are usually the leaders of local militia, the government dares not interfere.

ENDA Moves Out Of Committee

The trans-less version of ENDA passed its first legislative hurdle yesterday when the House Committee on Education and Labor voted 27-21 to approve the bill. Four Democrats, including presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich voted against the bill in protest of the removal of transgender protections, but with the votes of four gay-friendly Republicans, the measure passed.

Republicans voting yes: Reps. Michael Castle (R-Del.), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Todd Platts (R-Penn.) and Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.).

Democrats voting no: Kucinich and Reps. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Yvette Clark (D-N.Y.), and Rush Holt (D-N.J.).

Earlier this week, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, the only openly-lesbian member of Congress, received permission from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to introduce a trans-inclusive amendment to ENDA on the House floor next week, a move initially opposed by Pelosi and Barney Frank.

(via- Washington Blade.)

What? What?

FDA regulators have added "sudden hearing loss" to the list of possible side-effects for erectile-dysfunction drugs. In one-third of the cases, the hearing loss was temporary, but in the rest of the cases the loss is ongoing. Although the FDA reports that the condition only appears in about 1 out of 1 million users, FDA warnings are considered by some to represent only a fraction of actual problems. Pfizer and Lilly are defending the safety of their drugs, of course.

Philly Lowers Boom, Raises Rent For Boy Scouts

City leaders in Philadelphia have told the local Boy Scout chapter that they must now pay market rent for their headquarters because they refuse to allow gay Scouts. The previous rent, negotiated in 1928 when the Scouts built the building on city land, was $1 annually. The new rent: $200,000 a year.

Philly's Cradle Of Liberty Boy Scout Council adopted a nondiscrimination policy in 2003 following the 2000 ruling by the Supreme Court that the Scouts were a private organization entitled to bar membership to anyone, but had to revoke the gay-inclusive policy when the National Council ruled that local chapters were not allowed to deviate from national rules. The Philadelphia chapter serves 64,000 Scouts.

Here's some reaction from the loons at Free Republic:

-"My guess is that now the 'city of brotherly love' means 'If I can’t molest your sons, then you need to get out!'"
-"I will not spend a dime in Philly or San Fran. Law abiding citizens need to get the hell out of hellholes and leave it to the pervert infested filth that call these places home."
-"Philadelphia has always been corrupt and unsafe but lately they also want to become a mecca for rump rangers."
-"Why do these perverts want to destroy everything good and decent about America????"

Remember, I read Free Republic so you don't have to.

Broadway Friday

-Deborah Kerr, star of Broadway and films, died yesterday in Suffolk, England at age 86. Kerr made her Broadway debut in 1953's Tea and Sympathy in which she spoke the most famous line of her career: "Years from now when you talk about this — and you will — be kind." Kerr was nominated for six Oscars and received an honorary Oscar in 1994.

-West End smash Rock-N-Roll begins previews on Broadway today at the Jacobs Theatre. Playwright Tom Stoppard first hit Broadway forty years ago with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

-Clay Aiken joins the cast of Spamalot on January 18th as Sir Robin, the role originated by David Hyde Pierce. The Gayken joins a long line of American Idol finalists to appear on Broadway.

-The revival of The Ritz, starring Kevin Chamberlin, has been extended to December 9th. Crisco oil party. Room 419. Pass it on.

-The Nederlander Organization, which own nine Broadway houses, has told Local One, the stagehands union, it will not join the League of the American Theatres and Producers in implementing new union work rules next week. The impasse and possibility of a work stoppage continues. Broadway's last strike was in 2004.

-Passing Strange, which was an Off-Broadway hit musical for the Public Theatre this summer, lands at Broadway's Belasco Theatre on February 8th. Synopsis: "Passing Strange is the moving and hilarious story of a young black bohemian on a journey of escape and exploration that takes him from his middle-class, church-reared youth in South Central L.A. to the drug-laced world of sex in Amsterdam to the art and anarchism of Berlin — with a bevy of eye-opening experiences and life lessons along the way."

Flash Shopping

For their latest stunt, over 100 male "agents" of Improv Everywhere gathered in Central Park last week before descending shirtless on the Fifth Avenue flagship Abercrombie & Fitch store to test the reaction of store employees and shoppers. The store features numerous oversized photos of shirtless men and often has a shirtless model wandering around the store, but after a few minutes of bewilderment, security guards began ordering the men to put on shirts or leave the store. Only "real" models can be topless at Abercrombie, apparently. Click the above link for tons of fun (and hot) pics of the action. Improv Everywhere has pulled similar stunts at Best Buy (where they dressed like employees and offered help to customers) and Home Depot (where they moved in super-slow motion.)

Joan Rivers At Cutting Room

Last night Dr. Jeff, George, Damian, and I attended Joan Rivers' workshop at Chris Noth's Cutting Room, where she tried out some new material on a packed house. As usual, no topic or group is safe from Joan's jokes as she riffed on gays, Jews, 9/11 widows, PWA's, stroke victims, her plastic surgeries and the usual plethora of celebrities. We were seated at the lip of the stage, but mercifully Joan only picked on us a couple of times after pointing us out as big table of queers. Big thanks to Joan's producer, Chip, for the invite.

Manhattan socialite Blaine Trump was seated next to us, but the big find in the audience was Margarita Pracatan, the wacky lounge singer whose fractured Charo-cum-Googie Gomez accent and nutty musical takes on ABBA and Lionel Richie made her a star of British chat shows and gay clubs. (Check her out singing New Jork, New Jork to Liza.) Margarita bragged to us that she is a "beeg, beeg star of dee gays" and bid us farewell with her trademark "I loves joo!" I believe she currently has a cable access show here in NYC. Pracataaaaan!

Sex & Money Scandal At ORU

Richard Roberts, president of Oral Roberts University, has requested a leave of absence as allegations from all corners continue to roil his administration. Roberts' wife Lindsey is said to have spent the night in an ORU guest house with an underaged male on nine occasions. She has also been photographed with an underaged male in her sports car 29 times. Lindsey: "I live my life in a morally upright manner and throughout my marriage have never, ever engaged in any sexual behavior with any man outside of my marriage as the accusations imply."

Richard Roberts has been accused of using donations for lavish renovations of their home and for illegal participation in a local political campaign, which would jeopardize the school's non-profit status. Roberts also allegedly had financial records shredded after firing the school's comptroller.

The son of the university's namesake, famous pioneering televangelist Oral Roberts, Richard says that God told him to deny the charges. God: "We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit ... is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion." God talks fancy these days.

Morning View - Times Square Station

Open Thread Thursday

It's a given that Larry Craig / restroom stalls will be the #1 topical costume this Halloween. What else will be big? Bald Britney? Crying Chris Crocker? Miss Teen South Carolina? What will you be this year? I'm thinking: Charles Nelson Reilly. Gotta find the right ascot.

Here's some tips on your Larry Craig costume, via The Hill:

•Sport a large sign that reads “NOT GAY”
•Carry a roll of toilet paper and keep a square taped to your shoe
•Construct a bathroom stall around you, held up by suspenders (much like a kissing booth)
•Carry a boarding pass, Minneapolis to Washington
•Attach a knife handle to your back, identified by the letters “GOP”
•Wear tap shoes
•Cling to a giant Senate seal (you can occasionally mention that you’re about to let go, but then don’t)
•Show up with a friend wearing a police badge around his neck.

OMG Brains!

Just in time for Halloween comes a zombie parody of Kelly's Shoes, still the best thing to ever come out of YouTube. "What'd you expect, intest-tynes?" Love it.

Dubya Speaks Of World War III

Yesterday Russian president Putin warned against outside military interference in Iran's nuclear program. In response, today our ignoble leader ratcheted up the war-with-Iran rhetoric, saying, "If Iran had a nuclear weapon, it’d be a dangerous threat to world peace. So I told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously."

The U.S. continues to refuse to rule out intervening militarily if Iran does not dismantle its nuclear program, despite Russia's broad hints that they'd be inclined to step in on Iran's side. Russia has used its veto power on the U.N. Security Council to block sanctions against Iran. France is arguing that a broad multilateral sanctions against Iran are preferable to military intervention as Iran continues to deny that its nuclear program is meant to develop weapons, which nobody really believes.

Spiraling, spiraling. Hey, why fail in two wars when you can fail in three for only ten times the cost? Not to mention risking global thermonuclear war? Joshua is still playing the game, Professor Falken. Will any of us be here next year?

When I was in 7th grade, Alas, Babylon, a brilliant (and now classic) novel about global thermonuclear war was read to us in daily installments over the school's closed circuit video system. Set in a ficticious Florida town near where we lived, with many references to real local landmarks, the book gave many of us nightmares that continued for years, something the students confided in each other as high schoolers. I still dream about that book. More now, I bet.
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The Castro Is CLOSED For Halloween

In an effort to avoid a repeat of last year's lawlessness and gang-related violence, a concerted public relations effort is underway to let the public know that the Castro will be closed for Halloween. Will this work? The city has previously attempted to end Halloween in the Castro, most notably with a failed counter-event at Civic Center Plaza, but every year hundreds of thousands of (mostly straight) thugs show up to wreak havoc and intimidate local homos. In the 'stro, what, for many, used to be a fabulously gay celebration, is now a night spent in hiding.

The Home For Halloween site features information on alternatives to the Castro, as well as the list of neighborhood bars, stores and restaurants that will be closing for the night. (Hmm, I see that a couple popular bars are not yet on the to-be-closed list: Midnight Sun, 440 Castro.) Visit the Boo Blog for updates.

Here's former Mr. International Leather and current Castro barbershop owner Joe Gallagher's PSA about Home For Halloween. Gallagher: "In my opinion, it's just not safe" for people to come to the Castro on Halloween. How sad. I hope this works.


(Hat tip to my buddy David Lueck on this.)

Staph Bigger Killer Than AIDS

New data from the CDC reveals that more Americans die annually from complications of drug-resistant staph infections than from AIDS.

A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought and is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus, federal health officials reported yesterday.

The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated.

Although mounting evidence shows that the infection is becoming more common, the estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association is the first national assessment of the toll from the insidious pathogen, officials said.

"This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried," said Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

Other researchers noted that the estimate includes only the most serious infections caused by the germ, known as methicillin-resistant S taphylococcus au reus (MRSA).

"It's really just the tip of the iceberg," said Elizabeth A. Bancroft, a medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who wrote an editorial in JAMA accompanying the new studies. "It is astounding."

MSRA is particularly rife among crystal meth users. There have also been huge outbreaks at health clubs around the country, with professional athletes suffering outbreaks in their locker rooms, too. Scary stuff.

Ellen's Puppy Breakdown

Much ink has flowed since yesterday's Ellen Degeneres show in which she broke down and sobbed for the first five minutes of the show. Ellen had overlooked the "must keep" proviso of her shelter puppy adoption agreement and when she gifted the puppy to the children of an employee, the shelter repossessed the dog. I happened to catch the show live and was very moved by Ellen's reaction.

Today the puppy dispute has escalated into the gossip pages, with accusations flying that Ellen's publicist made threats against the shelter. Here's the voice mail played for the NY Post's Page Six: "This is Kelly Bush. We are filing a legal case against you. We are going to be contacting the media. This is not going to be good for your store or your organization. You did not do the right thing. You need to call back. There is no reason for you to take this dog. Please call back before this gets further out of hand." Bush denies having made any threats. And of course, inevitably, there is already an online petition to "Free Iggy".

Here's the clip from the show, one of several floating around YouTube. I would have posted this yesterday, but the videos are being yanked almost as fast as they go up. This one probably won't last long either.

Larry Craig: I Don't Approve Of The Lifestyle

I watched Sen. Craig's interview with Matt Lauer last night, watching Lauer lob softball after softball and through Craig's denials, I just sat there thinking "Gayface, gayface, gayface." I'm terrible. Here's the complete transcript of the interview. From Tom Shales in the WaPo:

One thing, at least, was made painfully clear by Matt Lauer's interview with Sen. Larry Craig on NBC last night: Matt Lauer is no Mike Wallace. Lauer was anything but hard-hitting or confrontational with the Idaho Republican, arrested in June for alleged homosexual solicitation in a Minneapolis airport men's room.

For Lauer, self-important co-host of NBC's "Today" show, the interview was obviously seen as a potential career- and credibility-builder, but even when he did ask an arguably tough question, he essentially apologized for it. He prefaced a question about whether the senator might be bisexual by saying to Craig, "You're going to have to forgive me for this."

Jeebus, next time give the interview to Barbara Walters.

Voice Choice

From the Village Voice's Best Of NYC 2007:

Best Place For Gay Men Of A Certain Bent To Smoke, Cruise, And Maybe Even Get Their Wescos Polished - The Eagle

Despite AIDS, changing fashions in sex and sexuality, and the West Side real-estate boom that continues to devastate area nightlife, crowds of he-men still flock to New York's sole serious butch bar, The Eagle, to drink, drug, pose, shoot pool, tease the bootblack, buy a cock ring or other sundry, and perhaps even find love—or its approximation. If you missed the recent screenings of William Friedkin's boneheaded, vastly entertaining film Cruising (1980) and/or are too young to remember the original Eagle (or the Lure, or the Mineshaft), then this establishment is the closest you'll likely get to the rampant machismo and the leather/S&M culture that for a time defined the meatpacking district— and, by extension, a generation of gay men looking for role models other than fluttery florists and Franklin Pangborn. Saturday night is when the wannabe cops, truckers, cowboys, and other tough-guy fantasists gather in full force here; it's particularly festive on holidays and special-events weekends, such as the recent Mr. Eagle competition. A fetish dress code (leather/rubber, uniforms, jockstraps, gas masks, etc.) is strictly enforced on Thursday nights, and early evenings on Sundays are often bearish and lively—especially after the bar-sponsored rugby matches and softball home games. The real attraction, though, is the Eagle's roof deck: a zillion square feet of landscaped decking with lots of bench seating and seductive nooks. There's a full bar, plus a stunning view of the massive, streamlined Starrett-Lehigh building just down the block.

To drink and drug? Out of the dozens of gay bars in Manhattan, I'd put the Eagle far down the list of drug hotspots. The only thing I ever see being sniffed at the Eagle is armpits. Although in the second floor bathroom one does perceive the slight, but persistent, essence of poppers.
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Good Work Wednesday

SF: PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support) hosts their 20th Annual Celebration tonight, October 17th, at the Federal Reserve Building. "The evening will include a sit down dinner for 400, entertainment, a special Founder's Award presentation, a full-color program with a detailed narrative of the PAWS story, a live auction with select high-end packages to be auctioned off by San Francisco's renowned Mayor Willie Brown, a photographic retrospective, and excerpts from a new PAWS documentary that is currently in production." Tickets: $250.

NYC: The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund will hold its second Young Professionals for Victory event at Cain Nightclub on Oct. 25 from 8:00-11:00. The event will include a live DJ, open bar and a silent auction featuring items from B.R. Guest Restaurants, Paragon Sports, the NY Rangers, the NY Knicks, Natrona Furniture, Xac Anthony Salon & Spa, Aussiebum and more. Ticket sales benefit the Victory Fund, the nation's largest LGBT political action committee and the only national organization dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT elected officials at all levels of government. Purchase tickets online here.

NYC: GLAAD holds its outAuction NYC 2007, "An evening to celebrate established and emerging artists", on October 21st at Metropolitan Pavillion. "Bid on 100 unique pieces of art. Last year’s live auction featured work from Pablo Picasso, Herb Ritts, Steven Klein, Dan Bleier and Jan Aronson. Past artists include: Ross Bleckner, Patrick McMullan, Annie Leibovitz, Karim Rashid, Mario Sorrenti, Peter Max, Rosie O’Donnell, and many others." Tickets $125 general, $175 VIP.

NYC: Gay Men's Health Crisis hosts Fashion Forward With Tim Gunn, November 1st at the Altman Building, 135 W.18th Street. "Join us as we celebrate the fashion industry's commitment to fighting HIV and AIDS and their support of GMHC for over two decades. FASHION FORWARD will present the looks of such celebrated designers as John Bartlett, Andrew Buckler, Heatherette, Perry Ellis, Rag & Bone and Peter Som among others. The evening will feature a cocktail reception, a runway show and a live and silent auction." Purchase tickets here.

LA: The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Center 36th Annual Gala & Auction takes place on November 17th at the Hyatt Regency Century City. "Singer and Activist Jenifer Lewis and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles to be Honored; Chorus to Perform “duet” with the iconic Linda Ronstadt." Tickets: $300 for individuals, $400 for VIP admission which includes preferred seating; $3,000 for a table of 10, and $4,000 for a VIP table of 10. Purchase tickets here.

NYC: The Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project will stage their 2007 Courage Awards at Gotham Hall on November 19th, hosted by B.D. Wong. This year's honorees: New York State Assembly Member Daniel J. O'Donnell, Ms. Verna Eggleston of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and Sundance Channel.

A Killer Wedding

Two men convicted of killing are being allowed to marry in a Canadian prison.

(Montreal, Quebec) Two men in federal prison in Quebec will marry later this month in the first same-sex marriage at the Cowansville Penitentiary.

David Bedard, 22, is serving a 10-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Sony Martin, 26, serving a life term for second-degree murder.

The two men met while behind bars.

While Bedard will be eligible for parole in a couple of years, Martin, under the terms of his sentence is ineligible for parole before 2020.

"Gay weddings have been legal since July 2005 and the first union between same-sex inmates occurred in November 2006, so it's not frequent," prison spokesperson Jean-Yves Roy told the Montreal Gazette.

Ow, my head. The jokes! What DO you get marrying killers? Oh, and enter the Freepers in 3....2....1...

HomoQuotable - Kate Kendell

"The removal of protection for transgender people, in addition to allowing continued discrimination against transgender people, would open the door to the court's weakening of statutory protections under ENDA for all members of the LGBT community. Over the past two decades, many federal courts—including the U.S. Supreme Court—have adopted astoundingly narrow constructions of anti-discrimination statutes. We would be foolish—and irresponsible—to ignore this body of case law as we are attempting to pass an effective statute that will protect members of the LGBT community from discrimination.

For example, although statutes prevent employers from discriminating based on national origin, courts have nevertheless interpreted those statutes to permit employers to discriminate against workers who speak with an accent associated with a particular country or region. Similarly, courts have interpreted race discrimination statutes narrowly to permit employers to discriminate against workers who wear hairstyles (such as braided hair) associated with a particular race. The basis for these decisions is that not all persons from other countries speak with an accent and that not all persons of a particular race wear a particular hairstyle. While we strongly disagree with the reasoning in these decisions, it, unfortunately, does not take a stretch of imagination to envision a court holding that a statute prohibiting only sexual orientation discrimination does not protect a butch lesbian or a feminine gay man because not all lesbians and gay men are gender non-conforming." - Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center For Lesbian Rights, in an article posted on the blog of the American Constitution Society For Law and Policy.

Swag Tuesday

This week's Swag Tuesday giveaway is the soundtrack to RuPaul's new movie, Starrbooty, due out on DVD on October 30th. I caught a screening of Starrbooty back in June, just before the movie opened at NYC's Newfest and the music was killer. There don't appear to be plans to release the physical soundtrack separately at this point (although it is availabe on iTunes), so this could be a collectors item.

About the movie: RuPaul is Starrbooty, a top (well, actually a bottom as you'll soon see) secret ops agent who is plunged into chaos when her niece is kidnapped by long-time nemesis and fellow indulger of flawless skin and skin-tight couture, Annaka Manners (Candis Cayne). It seems that Miss Not-So-Nice Manners has a devious plot to snatch hookers off the street so that she can cut em up and sell em off one piece at a time. Starrbooty is forced to go "undercover ho" to rescue her niece... and her own true identity.

The soundtrack has 25 cuts, including several choice bits of dialogue from the movie, and the hit title song, Call Me Starrbooty. I've got three copies of the Starrbooty soundtrack to give away. Please remember to leave your email address and only your first comment counts. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Powerless

59th Street, 9am.....

Woman 1: So I just looked her in the face and said "Fuuuuuck You!"
Woman 2: Wow! Then what happened?
Woman 1: She just shrugged and walked away. Sad.
Woman 2: Yeah. "Fuck you" just has no power in this town anymore.
Woman 1: Yeah, sad.
Woman 2: Yeah.
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Remembering The Party

I've started this post several times over since I got back from last week's Trocadero Transfer 30th anniversary Remember The Party event in San Francisco. I usually get my event reviews up pretty quickly, but not this time. Part of the delay was due to difficulties in getting the video below uploaded from my camera, but I think that a bigger issue was that I've been luxuriating in the afterglow from one of the most magical events I've experienced in the last few years, and that having the post "in the works" was sort of keeping it alive for me. Weird, huh?

Last Sunday, after walking around the Castro Street Fair for four hours, my host Leif (the Hot House hottie) and I went back to his place to relax for a bit, then headed for the venue, original site of the Troc, now the Glas Kat, arriving shortly before the 6pm door opening. We walked up on a line of men and women largely in their late 40's to early 60's, all chattering excitedly and trading Troc memories. Our old SF buddy Bill (aka DJ Trainwreck), in from Chicago for the party, joined us in line. Inside the door, party producers Chris and Richard had staffers handing out strands of costume pearls, in honor of the Troc's pearl anniversary.

DJ Jerry Bonham, whom I've mentioned here many times as my favorite DJ in the world, was only four songs into his nine-hour set and the dance floor was already crowded, as it would remain for the rest of the night. The lighting crew had recreated the original Troc mirror ball assembly, the disco fog was blasting, and the capacity crowd was smiling, smiling, smiling.

Jerry gave us the complete old school trip: a down tempo beginning (Geraldine Hunt's Can't Fake The Feeling), an hours-long journey through gay disco's HI-NRG period (Patrick Cowley's Menergy, Sylvester's Can't Stop Dancing), the best of Philly disco (Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' The Love I Lost) and a luscious, prolonged morning music set featuring Troc staples (Grace Jones' La Vie En Rose, Sharon Ridley's Changin', and Stephanie Mills' Never Knew Love Like This Before.) My highlight of the night: Tata Vega's I Just Keep Thinking About You Baby. (Download / Stream.) Rule #1 of gay disco: Sylvester will never be topped. Rule #2: Jerry Bonham does not fail. UPDATE: Check out Jerry's complete playlist for the night.

Many stars of gay disco were in the house: performers, producers, DJs, and light techs. Seen: still humpy Megatone singer Paul Parker (here's a 1983 video of hawt Parker performing Right On Target at the Saint), Lester Temple, DJ Larry Sanders (Fire Island, Sandpiper), Rod Roderick, DJ David Nathan, DJ Phil B, and Australia's superstar DJ Paul Goodyear, with whom I had a brief chat and who later took center stage in an amazing mirrorball dinner jacket as the original Troc lighting crew (Chris, Bob, and Carla) trained spotlights on him, to the roaring approval of the crowd.

I met lots of JMG readers over the course of the night, many of whom had flown in expressly for the party. At one point, RTP producer Richard pointed out original Troc DJ Steve Fabus on the dance floor and I impulsively lunged towards Fabus to ask for a picture. The handsome young man dancing with Fabus (and there were a surprising number of under-40s guys in the crowd) stared at me for a second, then said "Are you Joe?" He turned out to be regular JMG commenter M00nchild, whom I'd always pictured as an aging East Bay hippie. So not.

M00nchild turned out to have a freakishly encyclopedic knowledge of gay disco for someone so young, which he demonstrated to me many times over the next few hours. You really must read his poignant review of the party from the perspective of one of the younger guys there. An excerpt:

Watching these beautiful older gay men around me dance, their lips moving to every song, their movements hitting every break, brought tears to my eyes. So many -- if not all of them -- were survivors. To get to this point, dancing at this party, to music that was so clearly special and full of memories, they had to have walked through unbelievable loss and challenge. It was a privilege to dance with these men all moving in unison, face to face, cheek to cheek, one to one, man to man.

Boy, M00nchild really nailed that, didn't he? Buried in all that joy, all that dancing, all that singing along, was the subliminal undercurrent of a requiem dance, a faint funereal drumbeat keeping a second, haunted rhythm. You wouldn't notice it as a casual observer, but a keen eye could see it there occasionally, fleetingly, in the song transitions. That's when a dancer would momentarily zone out, face gone slack, eyes averted. His feet would be moving at 130 bpm, but his mind was spinning much faster, as a particular song slammed him back to 1983 or some other magical, youthful, lusty year when he once danced to that song with a beautiful young man, now long gone. But after a moment, the dancer's partner would knowingly touch him on the arm, he'd blink, nod, and return to the now, feet moving more forcefully, jumping a little bit higher. Like a New Orleans jazz funeral, this is how gay men of my generation grieve, how we venerate The Lost. We do it by dancing. And it's a beautiful, moving, celebratory thing, free of cloying sentimentality. I wouldn't trade it, or the memory of last Sunday, for anything in the world.

In homage to original Trocadero Transfer DJ Bobby Vitteriti, Jerry closed the night with Pachabell's Canon In D Major, as Vitteriti did so many times, decades ago. And we middle-agers (and some older and some young'uns) hugged the strangers we'd danced next to for the previous nine hours as Jerry's applause rolled on and on. Feet were sore, backs ached, throats were hoarse, but ah, how our souls were refreshed. A spiritual catharsis, an emotional rebalancing, had been achieved, something unattainable by years on some therapist's couch. But like any mood equalizer, the effect is transitory. I think I'll need another fix in exactly twelve months.

Manhattan Monday

- DRV-IN, a one-car "drive-in" movie theatre has opened on the Lower East Side. For $75, you and your pals can sit in a 1965 Falcon convertible while films are projected on a pull-down screen. Three shows a day, concession stand available, reservations required. The theatre is sold out for days in advance. $75 to sit in a car and watch old movies. And it's a hit. Go figure.

-Impressed on a recent visit with London's "Ring of Steel", Mayor Bloomberg wants to dramatically increase the number of security cameras trained on public places.

-The Shinnecocks, a local Native American tribe, is pushing for a $1.4 billion casino at the Aqueduct Raceway. If the tribe gets the Aqueduct site, they promise to drop their long-held claim on tribal land in Southhampton, which will surely influence the movers and shakers who don't want their summer playground ruined. The casino would be 1 million square-feet, with 10,500 slot machines and 300 gaming table. Annual revenue to the city: $500 million. Atlantic City will surely do their best to kill the proposal, which is thought to be a long-shot.

-The Rockefeller Center skating rink is open for the season. Adults: $18, including skate rental.

-Yesterday's Yoga For Zombies had over 100 undead doing downward dog in Williamsburg. "Ohmmm. Braaaaaaains."

-CMJ '07 Music Marathon & Film Festival runs tomorrow thru Saturday, featuring hundreds of bands you've never heard of. On the bill: MSTRKRFT, Nashville Pussy, and the unlistenable AIDS Wolf.

-Concerned about the advent of cellphone service in the subway, City Councilman Oliver Koppell has asked the MTA to look into making one car on each train a "quiet car", as Amtrak does. As Gothamist said, HA! They also point out that moving between subway cars is illegal, making it a bit difficult to get to the quiet car. I can't wait until the first person gets stabbed for trying to enforce the rule.
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Mayor Dirtwoman

JMG reader Rob hipped me to the Richmond, Virginia mayoral candidacy of Donnie Corker, aka Dirtwoman, a locally-reknowned transvestite who has promised to dress in drag every day if elected.

I’m going to get all the prostitutes off the street,” says Corker, who once made his living alongside them. “I’m going to work with the City Council people. And I’m not going to fight with the School Board.”

Reared in Oregon Hill, Corker literally made his name in politics, becoming legendary for crashing the gates — and getting arrested — at the gubernatorial inauguration of now-Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. Oh, and there was a little incident where he left that “deposit” in the back seat of a Richmond Police car.

Now a born-again Christian whose voting rights — revoked for a decades-old felony sodomy conviction — were recently restored by Gov. Tim Kaine, Corker says he mostly refrains from his drag queen get-up except to draw crowds to the annual Hamaganza charity benefit in November, where he appears as a not-ready-for-primetime (or Christmas time) Miss Claus.

He says he believes voters will look to the future and not at his past when they cast their votes in November 2008. Indeed, he suggests there’s not a politician in town whose past looks much better than his own — he just lived his life with more style.

Dirtwoman: "Once you get the men out of the closet, there won’t hardly be no men left."

(photo via - Lady Bunny.)

Recommended: Meanwhile

Photography fans should drop in on my buddy Aaron's blog, Meanwhile, for some stunning images of his trip to Berlin. Aaron begins each post with a photo of his morning cup of coffee before he heads out for a day of sightseeing. If you're an art fag or a foodie or a foodie art fag, you'll love his work.

Trans-less ENDA Bill To Move Forward

Despite a massive national outcry among gay activists and the work of an unprecedented coalition of progressive organizations, congressional leaders will move ahead with the version of ENDA that does not include transgender protections. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she has committed to presenting a second transgender-inclusive bill "the minute" enough votes have been secured to pass it. (In other words, don't hold your breath.)

The decision has expectedly split the HRC from the progressive coalition.

Matt Foreman, executive director the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, said, "It simply makes no sense. If the goal is moving an ENDA that protects all of us, passing a flawed, gay-only bill utterly undermines that objective. The notion that the House of Representatives will be willing to revisit a different ENDA before the end of the calendar year — when it has been unwilling or unable to take up a single pro-gay matter over the last 34 years — is more than implausible. We will do everything possible to convince members to end this misguided course of action."

However, Human Rights Campaign head Joe Solmonese said that his organization would not call on the members of Congress to vote against the bill, saying that such a call would jeopardize the HRC's relationship with representatives that have supported gay rights in the past. Solmonese: "I think we are apart from other groups in the movement because of the unique nature of our work. We have tried to be clear that we do not support efforts that are not inclusive, but we are respectful to the … complex strategy toward passing an inclusive bill."

Dubya is expected to veto the bill.

(via - Washington Blade.)

HomoQuotable - Father Tommaso Stenico

"It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the Church with my psychoanalyst work." - Vatican official Tommaso Stenico, who was suspended after he was caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man. Stenico claims that he is not gay and only visited gay chat rooms in order to root out "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity." Vatican officials recognized Stenico's office during an Italian television show that secretly filmed gay priests.

Governator Nixes Gay Marriage Again

As he'd promised he would, Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed California's same-sex marriage bill on Friday. He vetoed a similar bill in 2005. Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, which sponsored the bill: "This will be part of his legacy. He single-handedly is standing in the way of lifting the cloud of discrimination for millions of Californians."

Schwarzenegger announced the veto at 5:30pm on Friday, in obvious hope of reducing press coverage. The state of California currently defines marriage as between a man and a woman, but the state Supreme Court will judge on the constitutionality of that law next year. Schwarzenegger said that the Supreme Court would have to overturn the man/woman law before he would sign any marriage equality bill.

Morning View - 86th Street & 3rd Avenue

This Place Smells Like Balloons

As tedious as leather pageants can often be, last night the Farmboyz, Chris and I decided to drop in on the Mr. East Coast Rubber 2007 (NSFW) contest at the Eagle. I'm pals with Dave and Joey, the last two years' winners, and while I find rubber fetishism a tad incomprehensible (I tried some on years ago and nearly had a claustrophobic stroke trying to get it off), I thought the evening would at least provide some amusing blog fodder.

We arrived to find the joint completely packed on all floors. (Best line of the evening, provided by Eric Leven's friend, Alex: "This place smells like BALLOONS!") On the lower floor, where the contest was taking place, a large curtain blocked entrance and view of the festivities, so we retired to the roof to wait out the results. About an hour later, I went down the back stairs and managed to squeeze into the contest room just as the winner was announced.

But as the judges festooned him with a giant sash (rubber, natch), a bit of an outcry began to erupt as audience members disputed the results. That's rather common in these things, but it turned out the audience was right. The judges had miscalculated the scores. An embarrassment for the organizers to be sure, and a bit humiliating for the winner, who'd just been congratulated by his supporters and photographed by various press and leatherati.

The real winner was John Weis, head of Folsom Street East, who I'm told had performed a hilarious take on the Miss Teen South Carolina flap, something along the lines of "Why is it that 40% of Chelsea boys cannot find the Eagle on the map?" The not-really-the-winner, who'd actually placed third, sat glumly on the end of the stage with his boyfriend while the judges huddled to decide how to de-sash him. Weis shuttled between the judges and the winner a couple of times, then came over to us to announce, "Well, he says not giving up the sash. The winner goes to Berlin to compete in the world finals and he wants the trip." (Not the mention the rest of the prize package, which is surprisingly substantial.)

The general reaction was incredulity, of course. "What? He's not giving up the sash? But he's not really the winner!" Somebody jokingly suggested that Weis go over and tackle the guy and wrestle the sash off of him. (That might have been me.) Anyway, the not-winner left amidst vague threats of a lawsuit against the organizers. So I'm told. Weis didn't get his sash and when I left it was unknown who was going to Berlin and how things would be handled.

Weis handled the debacle with great humor, as did the other rubberati in the room, most of whom were highly amused by the petulant departure of the not-winner. I'd have more quotes, but I'd forgotten my note pad. I did have an amusing conversation with a couple of guys wearing gas masks. One of them said to me, "Snrogle thwp frls bwrorws!", which I think was something about loving his people. Me too.

UPDATE: John Weis reports that his sash was "graciously" delivered to him yesterday. He also sent along this photo of himself in full rubber, per reader requests.