Poi Dog Pondering And Habibi

Last night the Farmboyz and I attended the Poi Dog Pondering concert at the Bowery Ballroom, the first time seen them since I had pretty much ignored them on some multi-act bill back in Florida a dozen or more years ago. Poi Dog's style is impossible to pigeonhole - they're a bizarre melange of blues, disco, house, and Hawaiian, with not a little Irish folk thrown in.

Last night's 23-song set included much of their early hits like Complicated, but also leaned heavily on their just-released seventh studio album, 7. The highlight of the show for me was their cover of Ten City's That's The Way Love Is, one of my favorite early house tracks. Poi Dog's current eight-piece ensemble has one of the highest levels of musicianship you'll likely experience live; I recommended catching them on the rest of this tour, which hits Philly, Baltimore, and Boston over the next three nights.

After the show, we headed for Habibi, the gay Arab party which has moved around Manhattan for the last couple of years. We've always wanted to attend Habibi, so when we heard that this month's event would be at the Eagle, of all places, we couldn't resist. We walked into the lower level to see that they were finally using their recently-acquired cabaret license. The pool table was removed for dancing and with Arab techno blasting and Bollywood videos on the big screen - the place was jumping and packed.

In fact, I had to tell Father Tony that I hadn't seen so much fun being had at the Eagle in a long time. At one point, a gorgeous female belly-dancer displaced the shirtless Arab hotties on the go-go platform and performed with a tray of lit candles balanced on her head as hooting men threw dollar bills at her feet. DJ I.Z.'s music was fantastic and I was reminded of my brief obsession with bhangra-techno back in the early 90's. Some Jordanian guy told me that I.Z. was playing songs in Arabic, Turkish, and Hindi, but the crowd seemed to react to each of them equally well and the dancers near us sang along to almost everything.

Habibi is Arabic for "my beloved male friend" and as the night wore on, there was a lot of belovin' goin' on. Since so many of last night's songs seemed to have the word "habibi" in them, Father Tony speculated that the word might be an Arabic music version of "corazon", the word that appears in most Spanish pop songs. Here's a video played last night, German pop duo Milk & Honey's Habibi (Je T'aime.)

Call Me....Azariah

I got a few emails yesterday to let me know that according to Gay City News, I had just shocked the world of televangelism by coming out. I think I'll call my new ministry "Joedeism".

Wingnuts Protest The Protest

So much for the wingnuts keeping their kids at home today. Instead, these jokers in Nebraska took it to the school.

A small group of anti-gay demonstrators who showed up at Lincoln East High School Friday morning prompted 10 to 15 students to stage their own protest, with one student running through a banner that said "homosexuality is a sin."

At about 7:30 a.m., Lincoln police got a report of several adults carrying anti-gay posters near Lincoln East, said Officer Katie Flood. Police didn’t arrest or cite anyone but documented the disturbance, Flood said. The incident took place during the school’s Day of Silence, an annual, student-driven event that took place in high schools across Lincoln Friday, said Gene Thompson, associate principal at Lincoln East.

The event allowed students to be silent during times when they were not in class to bring awareness to acts of harassment against gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender students. Thompson said three or four adults carried anti-gay posters in a public park south of the school. He said more than a dozen students then began protesting the adults. The school sent administration and security staff to ensure nothing happened. The school didn’t suspend anyone and the incident was over by shortly after 8 a.m., Thompson said.

Fewer Tests For Pozzers?

And interesting new study reveals that HIV+ people may not need the regular monitoring of their virus now insisted upon by most doctors.

A paper published by The Lancet medical journal has revealed that patients who suffer from HIV may no longer need to have regular testing. The research showed that there was little difference between the survival rates of those who had their immune system tested every six months and those that weren't tested at all.

The results may have a drastic impact on the west's view on how HIV patients in developing are treated. In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and it claimed the lives of an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children. Over three quarters of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.

Scientists have argued that without constant tests antiretroviral drugs may become useless. As an increasing amount of antiretroviral drugs have been distributed across developing countries, some doctors worry that without lab monitoring patients will develop drug resistance faster.

Western HIV sufferers are tested every six months. When their immune system becomes particularly weak doctors may decide to change the combination of drugs. Andrew Phillips and colleagues from the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London used a computer model that simulated patient details based on HIV progression in real patients.

Phillips and his colleagues found that 83 percent of patients who were monitored with lab tests survived five years, compared with 82 percent for those who went without the tests. Over two decades, 67 percent of those who got lab tests survived versus 64 percent for those who didn't.

The results will be welcomed by campaigners who would like to see more antiretroviral drugs sent to developing countries. However, some scientists are concerned that drug resistant forms of the virus may spread if large numbers of HIV sufferers take drugs that don't work.

As the final paragraph notes, this news may have the greatest impact in the developing world where the limited funds are now split between providing drugs and follow-up testing. I doubt many American patients would willingly forego regular assurances that their virus is in check.

Ban On Anti-Gay T-Shirt Reversed

Just in time for today's Day Of Silence:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit reversed a lower court's ruling against an Illinois student Wednesday, saying the district court must order a Naperville high school to suspend its ban on a T-shirt that reads "Be Happy, Not Gay" while the student's lawsuit proceeds. School officials prohibited student Alex Nuxoll, who is represented by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, from wearing the clothing.

"Christian students shouldn't be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs," said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. "Public school officials cannot censor a message expressing one viewpoint on homosexual behavior and then at the same time allow messages that express another viewpoint. The court's ruling is a victory for all students seeking to protect their First Amendment rights on a school campus."

Nuxoll, a student at Neuqua Valley High School, desires to express his perspective at various times throughout the year, including the next school day after the "Day of Silence." Other students at the school are permitted to wear shirts with messages supporting homosexual behavior as part of the "Day of Silence," which is sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network. The 7th Circuit ruling prevents school officials from singling out Nuxoll's message for censorship.

I think the court made the right decision since gay-friendly students are allowed to wear pro-gay shirts today. However, I can definitely see how a t-shirt war of messages could disrupt a school on other days.

The Day Of Silence is being observed at over 6500 schools around the nation today and as we know, the wingnuts have been lobbying to keep their kids at home. I'll report on absenteeism rates as reports come in.

Explicit Open-Mouth Homosexual Kissing!!!

The American Family Association is "repulsed" by what it calls "explicit open-mouth homosexual kissing" on As The World Turns, where the gay teen couple finally had their long-overdue kiss on Wednesday.Wheee! And here's the kiss. It's a sweet kiss, but not exactly the tonsil-probing that the AFA claims. Not that we'd expect those dried-up twats to know a proper snog when they see one.

Best Bets For Furry Fun In May

Furball - Full-immersion bear-disco therapy with DJs Frankie Knuckles and Man Parrish. Saturday May 17th at the NYC LGBT Center. Doors open 9pm. Tickets $10 at the door.Flashdance SF - an 80's flashback party in San Francisco put on by my pals that throw the annual Trocadero Transfer reunion, Remember The Party. DJ Rotten Robbie, 6PM - 2:30AM, Sunday, May 18th at the Glas Kat (the old Troc space). Ticket $15. Advance tickets here.
Body & Soul - the incredible, never duplicated, house and classic R&B love fest with DJs Danny Krivit, Joe Claussell, and Francois Kervorkian. Doors open 6PM, Sunday, May 25th at Webster Hall. Advance tickets $20. Get tickets here.

Stagecraft

Unsurprisingly, the NY Times has uncovered that the Obama campaign deliberately placed that trio of A&F-clad boys behind their candidate, a bit of "stagecraft" done by all campaigns interested in reaching a particular demographic.

Mystery solved. The so-called Abercrombie boys who showed up behind Senator Barack Obama during his speech Tuesday night in Evansville, Ind., were just random Obama fans. They were asked by the Obama campaign to join the crowd behind the candidate.

Because they were all wearing T-shirts from Abercrombie & Fitch, they stood out in the crowd, even receiving cell-phone calls from friends who had spotted them on television during the speech. Soon the media mentioned them, wondering whether they were part of an advertising campaign, a shrewd bit of product placement by the retailer, which is geared toward the same young crowd attracted to Mr. Obama’s candidacy.

Not so. The young men saw a report on CNN and called the network to say they had not planned anything. One of them works at the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Evansville. He and one of his brothers and a friend decided to go to the rally; they wear A&F clothes all the time and didn’t think twice about the T-shirts.

At the rally, a campaign volunteer asked them to stand behind Mr. Obama during his speech. It was not clear what role the T-shirts played, if any, in their selection. Spokesmen for the Obama campaign and A&F said there was no plan to highlight A&F, and both were caught by surprise when the T-shirts drew such attention.

According to the story, the placement was done to reach white working-class voters. Is A&F a "working-class" brand? I thought it more for twinks and preppies.

Sean Bell Verdict Rocks NYC

In a case that has riveted NYC for the last 17 months, today three NYC detectives were acquitted in the shooting death of Sean Bell, a black Queens man who was fired at 50 times after undercover officers claimed they thought he was going for a gun. No gun was ever found.

Three detectives were found not guilty Friday morning on all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens.

Justice Arthur J. Cooperman, who delivered the verdict, said many of the prosecution’s witnesses, including Mr. Bell’s friends and the two wounded victims, were simply not believable. “The testimony of those witnesses just didn’t make sense,” he said.

His verdict prompted several supporters of Mr. Bell to storm out of the courtroom, and screams could be heard in the hallway moments later. The three detectives were escorted out of a side doorway. Outside, a crowd gathered behind police barricades, occasionally shouting, amid a veritable sea of police officers.

The verdict comes 17 months to the day since the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting of Mr. Bell, 23, and his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, outside the Club Kalua in Jamaica, Queens, hours before Mr. Bell was to be married.

It was delivered in a packed courtroom and was heard by, among others, the slain man’s parents and his fiancée. The seven-week trial, which ended April 14, was heard by Justice Cooperman in State Supreme Court in Queens after the defendants — Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper — waived their right to a jury, a strategy some lawyers called risky at the time. But it clearly paid off with Friday’s verdict.

A large protest of the verdict is already underway on Queens Boulevard, with traffic now restricted to one lane. Thus far the protest is peaceful, but there are some fears that things could turn violent, particularly with the verdict coming at the start of the weekend. Al Sharpton has been an advisor to the Bell family and is expected to plead for calm.

UPDATE: The Queer Justice League will join a protest rally of the verdict at noon tomorrow at the Queens District Attorney's office. Address: 25-01 Queens Blvd. between Hoover Ave & 82nd Ave. Take the E or F train to Kew Gardens-Union Tpke & walk 4 blocks SE, parallel to train.

Reanimation

Tim Gill Terrifies The Jeebus People

Gay activist Tim Gill has got the Christian right positively shaking in their pews.

Gill, the wealthy founder of software giant Quark who was recently named the fifth most influential gay person in America by Out Magazine, was "exposed" by Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network this week as the "stealth" activist behind many recent advances for the LGBT movement in state and local elections across the nation. Gill's good work, while no secret to gay activists, had apparently operated far below the Christian right's radar until now.

But in the CBN feature story bookended by Robertson's commentary, the exposé almost reads more like a love letter to Gill than a condemnation. Go watch the CBN video clip as "family values" strategists describe Gill as brilliant and smart as they tick off the campaigns in which Gill quietly funneled money to gay-friendly candidates and upended right-wingers. Through his Gill Action Fund, Gill helped win dozens of state and local elections for our side - all done while remaining largely unknown to beleaguered Republicans.

From the transcript:

One of Gill's 2004 targets was Ray Martinez of Fort Collins, Colorado. As the three-time Republican mayor of this Republican leaning area, Martinez thought he had a great shot at winning a state senate seat. Martinez told CBN News "the odds looked very good. The polling we saw was very favorable." But in the last few weeks of the campaign, Martinez got hit with an avalanche of media attacking his personal character and pro-life stance.

"We didn't know who was funding it," Martinez said. "We heard rumors of their names, but we could never find their names and we couldn't expose those because they were buried in a barrage of paperwork." Martinez had raised over $300,000 - more than enough he thought to win Fort Collins. But several published reports show Gill and various associates had poured close to $1 million into the race through '527' political organizations.

By taking out Martinez and other Republicans, Gill helped Democrats seize control of Colorado's statehouse for the first time in 30 years. The result? A slew of gay-friendly laws that redefine the family in Colorado.

The Payoff

Today, pro-family lawmakers in the Rocky Mountain state say the "Gill factor" is impossible to ignore. State representative and Minority Whip Cory Gardner says "it puts extreme pressure on people who are trying to make a living at work and trying to raise money for a campaign who don't have deep pockets."

In 2005, Gill started the Gill Action Fund. The fund's mission is "securing equal opportunity for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression." The next year, the fund's success rocked the political world. According to several published reports, it orchestrated donations worth $15 million to Gill's favored candidates and causes.

The payoff this time was wins in 50 of 70 targeted campaigns and power changes in the state chambers of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Iowa. Gill took out Iowa House Speaker Danny Carroll with one of his favorite stealth tactics: small checks from Gill and friends around the country. Carroll says he never knew what hit him until after the election when he checked campaign contributions for his opponent.

The clip ends with a shot of parents pushing their kids on a swingset as the narrator ominously warns that Tim Gill is looking to "flip statehouse chambers and ultimately, the way the country views sexuality and the family." I spoke with Gill on the phone yesterday and he laughed at that image, saying, "They're trying to say that I'm anti-swingset!"

Pat Robertson closes with this: "What are the Christians doing about this? The answer is 'absolutely zip'. There was an organization that I founded but it's not there anymore. To my knowledge, there is no other Christian grassroots organization that is even coming CLOSE to what Tim Gill is doing on the left for homosexuals."

And that, my friends, is high praise indeed.

Notorious H.R.C.

Hillary Clinton Rap: Taking Back The White House is yet another candidate music video, but this one is cuter than most. Includes a nice bite on Biggie Smalls. And at the end she totally nails the Hillary cackle.

Moscow Pride Banned For Third Year

For the third straight year, Moscow's mayor has banned gay pride.

The homophobic Mayor of Moscow has banned this years gay pride event. The Mayor, who has referred to gay rights marches as "satanic" has outlawed the march which was due to take place next week. The move comes amidst a growing number of violent threats from members of the orthodox church and far right groups.

However, a number of gay rights activists are insisting on holding a variety of events over the coming weeks, highlighting the homophobia that Russia's LGBT community are subjected to. Moscow Pride was banned by the city's Mayor in 2006 and in 2007.

There has been an increasing amount of global publicity concerning the persecution of Moscow's LGBT community and the prejudice that the community are receiving from their homophobic Mayor. A spokesmen from his office said: "It is a matter of surprise and indignation that gays plan to carry out unsanctioned gatherings in various parts of Moscow during the Festival of
Peace and Work".

An unsanctioned parade on May 27 last year, the anniversary of the abolition of a Soviet law that criminalized homosexuality, ended with ultra-nationalists throwing eggs and punching and kicking gay activists. Last year a number of gay protesters including Peter Tatchell and Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass, were physically attacked by a homophobic mob.

I think I said the same thing last year, but as you attend your gay pride this year, count your blessings.

AIDS Vaccine: Giving Up Hope

Horrible survey from England's Independent:

A shocking new survey has uncovered that the international community of Aids scientists are giving up hope of finding a vaccine for the virus. The growing pessimism of scientists comes after the disastrous failure of a trial vaccine. The trial drug, manufactured by pharmaceutical company Merck, has been found not to work and in some cases it has increased the likelihood of being infected with HIV.

After initially promising results when tested on primates the drug reacted very differently when tested humans who were at a high risk of infection.The misleading results that were derived from animal testing will be welcomed by animal rights groups.

The survey, carried out by The Independent, surveyed 35 leading Aids scientists from the Britain and the United States. Two thirds believed that an HIV vaccine will not be developed within the next 10 years and some of them said that it may take at least 20 more years of research before a vaccine can be used to protect people either from infection or the onset of Aids.

This latest report yet again sparks debate over how funds should be allocated. Many have argued that the vast sums of money spent on drugs trials should be channelled into infection prevention.

Winnie Seruma told the Independent: "When I was diagnosed, nearly 20 years ago, it was when the first drugs had come on the market. A lot of people had said before then that there was no hope and that all efforts should be put into prevention. But look where we are now. We cannot lose hope; we need to invest in a vaccine."

Deeply depressing.

Study: Young Queers Want LTRs & Kids

A study conducted in NYC claims that a majority of young gay people expect to raise children and be monogamously partnered by age 30.

What is believed to be the first major study of the hopes and aspirations of gay young people has found most want to spend their adult life in a long-term relationship raising children. More than 90 percent of young lesbians and more than 80 percent of gay males expect to be partnered in a monogamous relationship after age 30.

Two thirds of females and more than half of males expressed likelihood that they would raise children in the future. "These findings, while appear to be representative of urban lesbian or gay youth's aspirations, are a glimpse into the future of the LGBT community," said Robert-Jay Green, PhD, executive director of the Rockway Institute, a national research and public policy center located at Alliant International University.

"If these young people realize their expectations, the LGBT community will be a vastly different place in 20 years, with many more families and children. The implications are staggering for how the lesbian/gay community will be different in the 21st century than in generations past, when it was mainly a secret society of singles."

[snip]

When asked about expectations of future relationships, 66 percent of males and 80 percent of females rated future long-term relationships as "extremely important" or "very important." Eighty-two percent of females and 61 percent of males hoped to be partnered during the next five years.

Ninety-two percent of females and 82 percent of males expected to be monogamously partnered after age 30, and 79 percent of females and 73 percent of males expected to live with their partner. Sixty-four percent of females and 37 percent of males said it was "extremely likely" they would marry if allowed by law. When asked about expectations of child-raising, 36 percent of females and 20 percent of males said it was "extremely likely" they will raise children.

Overall, 67 percent of males and 55 percent of females expressed some degree of likelihood that they would raise children. Of those who expressed some likelihood, 58 percent of males and 54 percent of females expect to be raising their own biological children. Forty-two percent of males and 32 percent of females expect to adopt. Sixteen percent of males and 14 percent of females expect to be foster parents. Thirty-six percent of females and 17 percent of males expect to help their partner raise her or his biological children.

Hmm, 82% of young gay men expect to be monogamously partnered by age 30. Ah, naive youth. As for the "staggering implications" of this study, it would certainly mean the end of the kind of gay culture we've always known. Blech. Props to those with kids, but my social life would be empty if most of my friends were burdened with children.

The Two Larry Kings

CNN host Larry King remembers murdered gay teen Lawrence King in his PSA for tomorrow's Day Of Silence in public schools.

Tonight: Karen Finley At Rapture

Tonight at Rapture Cafe & Book's closing party: a rare opportunity to see legendary performance artist Karen Finley. 8PM, 200 Avenue A. Free admission!

Karen Finley performs a work-in-progress: Impulse To Suck. Rapture celebrates its final "transition" tonight beginning with a performance of a work-in-progress by the highly acclaimed and controversial performance artist Karen Finley. One of the legendary NEA Four, Finley's work has often been called "obscene" due to its graphic depiction of sexuality, abuse and disenfranchisement. Tonight's piece, is entitled IMPULSE to SUCK, and highlights the recent dramatic descent of our former governor, Elliot Spitzer. Please bear in mind that there is limited seating for this event, so please come early.

Karen Finley was in Albany, New York on March 10 in the Capital for a conference waiting to hear a speech from Governor Eliot Spitzer on Reproductive Health. Instead later that day, Spitzer performed an apology with his supportive, devastated wife standing next to him. Finley will speak about the performance of the apology, the erotic transference of the media’s fixation on Spitzer’s frown and the emotional starring role for Silda. Finley will perform her latest spoken word text which examines the confession, the apology, the imagining of the sexual encounter, the travel of the escort, the compulsion, the immigrant father’s plan for his son to succeed, and to the couples imagined therapy sessions. Looking at the psychodrama in the intimacy of our political leaders, Finley poses to see the agony of the son’s need for approval from the father and the ancient wrestling of the feminine archetypes of mother and whore.

More about Karen Finley. My 2005 Karen Finley story here.

Following Finley at 9PM will be Glenn Marla's Heavy. Free admission!

Each month, during the past year at Rapture, Transqueer performer, writer and artist, Glenn Marla, has been presenting what is, in our humble opinion, simply the best showcase of young, fresh and vibrantly talented performance artists to be found anywhere in this city. It's called "Heavy," and this edition is aptly titled, "Heavy Heart," since this will be Glenn's last appearance at Rapture, and indeed, our final closing night!

Expect stellar performances by: La John Joseph, Dan Fishback, Bryan Heyboer, Max Steele, Sequinette, & much more. We will be drinking up all the liquor in the house during the course of the night, so if you are a drinker, prepare to get toasted. After all, we can't take it with us! Groove to DJ baby K! Glenn Marla was Miss LES 2006, and IS NYC's hottest fat go-go dancer! Onstage Glenn explores, celebrates, and plays with gender, fat, and sex.

More about Glenn Marla.

Forget Cell Phone Jammers, Meet The Teenager Jammer

An electronic speaker that emits a high-pitched tone which only young people can hear is being used to clear out unwanted teen hangouts.

The Mosquito, which targets loiterers, projects a shrill noise audible only to teens and young adults. Almost 1,000 units of the device, called the Mosquito, have been sold in the United States and Canada after the product debuted last year, according to Daniel Santell, the North America importer of the device sold under the company name Kids Be Gone.

The high-frequency sound has been likened to fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing in your ear. It can be heard by most people in their teens and early 20s who still have sensitive hair cells in their inner ears. Whether you can hear the noise depends on how much your hearing has deteriorated: How loud you blast your iPod, for example, could affect your ability to detect it.

"It's horrible, loud and irritating," said Eddie Holder, 15, who sprinted from his apartment for school one morning covering one ear with his hand to block out the noise. The device was installed outside the building to drive away loiterers. "I have to hurry out of the building because it's so annoying. It's this screeching sound that you have to get away from or it will drive you crazy."

The device has roiled civil liberties groups in countries where it's in use, including England, Australia and Scotland. England's government-appointed Children's Commission proposed a ban. That group describes it as a weapon that infringes on the basic rights of young people and claims that it could have unknown long-term health effects. The $1,500 device has also been challenged in some American cities and towns that have proposed installing it, with some criticizing the tactic as needlessly cruel.

Santell said the noise can be heard by animals and babies but is bothersome only to children older than 12 and becomes unbearable after several minutes, making it a perfect teen-repellent. The same sound is used as a cell phone ring tone by deaf adults and is a popular download on the Internet.

From the Kids Be Gone website: "Is your business suffering from anti social youths driving your customers away? Are you bothered by crowds of teenager’s hanging around your street or business and making life unpleasant? Mosquito ultrasonic deterrent can solve your problems."

It's fascinating that the Mosquito tone has already been downloaded by millions of teenagers as a ringtone, presumably so teachers and parents won't know their cell is ringing. Shoe, meet other foot. American and foreign militaries have long been developing acoustic weapons; it seems to me that the Mosquito qualifies as one.

UPDATE: Reader Jeremy provided the link to test which level of the Mosquito tone you can hear. I can hear the tone up to 14hz, which appears to be age appropriate.

Morning View - SnakeMonkey

Actually I don't have a Morning View for today, but it's a good excuse to show you SnakeMonkey, a funkified East Village shop that sells neither snakes nor monkeys.

Jinxed By The Shirt

Open Thread Thursday

Tell us about your first time in a gay bar. Bar name, city, year.

Proof Of The End Times

Insult to injury: Donna Summer's I'm A Fire was #1 last week and I didn't even hear about it. It was her 17th song to top Billboard's dance chart and 31st to make the top ten.

Fall Preview

Here's a preview of what we're in for this fall.

To his credit, John McCain has written the North Carolina Republican Party and demanded that they pull the ad.

Dear Chairman Daves,

From the beginning of this election, I have been committed to running a respectful campaign based upon an honest debate about the great issues confronting America today. I expect all state parties to do so as well. The television advertisement you are planning to air degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats. In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement.

This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign. We need to run a campaign that is worthy of the people we seek to serve. There is no doubt that we will draw sharp contrasts with the Democrats on fundamental issues critical to the future course of our country. But we need not engage in political tactics that only seek to divide the American people.

Once again, it is imperative that you withdraw this offensive advertisement.

John McCain

It's going to get worse than this.

Food Rationing Story Widens

Yesterday's food rationing story has gotten much wider play. From USA Today:

The global food crisis is hitting consumers in the USA, with the nation's top retailer announcing that it's rationing rice because of "supply and demand trends," according to Reuters. “We are limiting the sale of Jasmine, Basmati and Long Grain White Rices to four bags per member visit,” Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, says in a statement cited by Fox Business News. “This is effective immediately in all of our U.S. clubs, where quantity restrictions are allowed by law.” This follows reports of rationing at Costco.

The price of rice has risen 68% since the beginning of the year, with prices for wheat, soybean, and corn approaching all-time highs. With the major networks teasing the story all day for their evening broadcasts, I wouldn't be surprised to see a national run on staples in the next few days. Anybody remember the time that Johnny Carson made a joke about a toilet paper shortage and caused a real national scarcity after millions ran out and bought every roll in the country?

Daily Grumble

Last night I finished watching HBO's superb John Adams mini-series, which is based on some Pulitzer Prize-winning book that I've never read. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney are typically fantastic and I learned quite a bit more about the American Revolution.

However, aside from so much of the dialog being delivered sotto voce that by the second episode I had to turn on the captioning, I was even more annoyed by the lack of contractions, a stilted phenomenon usually reserved for space aliens. "Do not weep for me, Mother." I can totally buy that Americans still had British accents fifty years after the Revolution, but seriously, nobody said can't, won't, or don't back then? Help me out.

McCain Supporter Pastor John Hagee Repeats "Gays Caused Katrina" Charge

Will the same people that leapt on Rev. Wright denounce this asshat?

On his radio show yesterday, right-wing talker Dennis Prager asked Hagee to respond to “the various charges made against him” in a fact sheet put out by the Democratic National Committee. Asked about his comments on Hurricane Katrina, Hagee said “the topic of that day was cursing and blessing”:

HAGEE: Yes. The topic of that day was cursing and blessing. … What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God, in time if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it’s called a curse.

Prager followed up by asking if all natural disasters are a result of “the divine hand” and if there is “any natural disaster that is not the result of sin?” Hagee responded by saying “it’s a result of God’s permissible will” and “that there was going to be a massive homosexual rally there the following Monday,” which he said “was sin”:

PRAGER: Right, but in the case, did NPR get, is this quote correct though that in the case of New Orleans you do feel it was sin?

HAGEE: In the case of New Orleans, their plan to have that homosexual rally was sin. But it never happened. The rally never happened.

PRAGER: No, I understand.

HAGEE: It was scheduled that Monday.

PRAGER: No, I’m only trying to understand that in the case of New Orleans, you do feel that God’s hand was in it because of a sinful city?

HAGEE: That it was a city that was planning a sinful conduct, yes.

Unconvinced by Hagee’s explanation, Prager said “frankly” that critics “can get you” for those comments “because people don’t like to hear that sort of thing.”

You may recall that in February McCain said he was "very honored" to have received Hagee's endorsement, for which McCain had lobbied hard. Since then he has both repudiated some of Hagee's positions and defended others, saying most recently (on Sunday) that he was "glad to have" Hagee's support. McCain has been silent on Hagee's "gays caused Katrina" idiocy.

And since when is Southern Decadence a "rally"?

(Via - Think Progress.)

America: Prison Capitol

From the New York Times:

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population.

But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences. The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College London.

China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison.

Thank the war on drugs, the easy availability of guns, and three strikes laws.

OK, But Lick This First

I was talking to a pharma insider the other day who told me that Orasure is getting ready to roll-out an over-the-counter version of their rapid oral swab HIV test kit, possibly as soon as this summer. Home Access currently sells a $35 home kit which requires a blood sample; Johnson & Johnson sold a similar product at one time, but pulled it due to low sales. Orasure's swab test is already used by clinics nationwide.

According to my source, Orasure plans to price and market their product like a home pregnancy test. Obviously, while everybody should know their HIV status, issues abound here. Ever since the advent of these home kits a few years ago, HIV activists have worried about people committing suicide when getting a positive result without accompanying counseling, not to mention the issue of false-positives. Those are serious concerns.

But I'm more interested in how the Orasure test may change the landscape of dating and relationships. As we know, HIV tests only tell you if you WERE negative several weeks ago. I fear that little detail may be lost on some of the people who pick up the test at their local Walgreens and hand it over to new partners or use it to "prove" their "monogamous" relationship.

The relatively unknown Home Access blood test could be used the same way, but if Orasure puts some heavy marketing muscle into their oral swab test and it gains the kind of consumer awareness that the EPT has, this will be interesting. And possibly, scary.

Detachable Penis

I was going to headline this post Cock-Jacking, but that might have been misleading. From Kinshasa, Congo:

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft. Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumours of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said. "But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members. "It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

But now I've got a perfect excuse to post King Missile's 1993 hit, Detachable Penis.

Obama Takes Vital Abercrombie Vote

Obamacrombie! The trio of A&F-wearing Obama supporters pictured here is tickling bloggers today. What brand do Hillary's supporters prefer?

(Via- Every Gay Blog Out There.)

Idol's Top Six

Father Tony came over to watch American Idol with me last night after I declined his invitation to watch it at Urge. (Somehow I didn't feel like watching David Archuleta through the sweaty legs of go-go boys.)

Last night the six remaining contestants performed the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber and when the announcer said that Webber had "composed most of the important musicals of our time," I looked over at Tony. "Did you just hear a loud noise coming from Brooklyn? I think Little David's head just exploded." Heh. In his excellent review of last night's show, the Huffington Post's Michael Glitz had something to say about that.

Both Tony and I agree that Jason Castro bombed, Brooke White is a goner tonight, and that David Archuleta is no longer the presumptive winner. Check out David Cook's take on Music Of The Night.

Six Degrees Of Ted Bundy

Upper East Side, Second Avenue, Tuesday 7PM

A deranged, yet very smartly dressed businessman, mid-50s, is walking down the sidewalk shouting to himself.

Man: "Douchbags! Communists! Shitbags! Shitbags! Ted Bundy!"

I was amused at how little attention he got from passersby until what came next.

Man: "Fuckheads! Ted Bundy! BETTE MIDLER!"

OK, that made people turn around. I rushed home and Googled both names, you know, just in case there's some connection. But, no.

The Silver Lining

From the Guardian UK:

The long-drawn-out fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is likely to benefit the party in the November general election because its campaigns are gathering massive amounts of data on voters, party strategists said.

Information gathered by supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during door-to-door canvassing has been passed on to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which plans to use it in the November election against the Republican presidential nominee, John McCain.

The data, which can be as simple as a correct phone number and address for a likely Democratic voter, will help the party mobilise its turnout operation and raise money for the costly general election fight, according to party strategists.

In Pennsylvania, campaigners for Clinton and Obama as well as the party have registered 328,000 new Democratic voters since last May, and their information has been added to the party's national voter data file. The Republicans, however, have seen their party registration shrink by more than 73,000 voters during the same period.

(Via - Dan Savage)

Morning View - Subway Signage

Times Square has the fanciest subway entrances. I think the covered up number is the old 9 train, which stopped running in May 2005. Times Square is the busiest subway station in North America, but the busiest in the world is Tokyo's Shinjuku Station.

Pennsylvania: Hillary 54%, Obama 46%

As expected, Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania's primary. At the time of this post her margin is 8%, not exactly enough to shout down those calling for her withdrawal from the race, but not bad considering how Obama outspent her, with his campaign shelling out over $11M to Clinton's $4.8M. In Philadelphia, Obama trounced Clinton by nearly a 2-1 margin, but Clinton's heavy support in the western part of the state pulled her through.

And on we go.

Leading Economic Indicator

Here in the "breadbasket of the world", food rationing.

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks. At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy. “Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.”

Has anybody run into this yet?

Double The Hate, Twice The Hope

Proponents of a proposed anti-gay marriage referendum in California claim to have gathered nearly twice the necessary signatures needed to place the item on the November ballot.

The sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage in California said Monday they have gathered enough signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. A coalition of religious groups called Protect Marriage collected more than 1.1 million signatures in support of the amendment, said Brian Brown, executive director of the California office of the National Organization for Marriage.

The initiative needs 694,354 signatures, or 8 percent of the votes cast in the last governor's race, to make it onto the ballot. "We have gone against tremendous odds to do this, and now the voters in California will have the chance to protect marriage," Brown said.

Supporters of the Limit on Marriage initiative plan to deliver their signed petitions to county registrars this week, ahead of the April 28 submission deadline set by the California Secretary of State's Office. The signatures must be verified before the amendment can be approved for the election.

Although gay men and lesbians cannot legally wed in California, opponents of same-sex unions want the ban written into the state Constitution. In that way, neither the Legislature nor the California Supreme Court can legalize gay marriage without approval from voters.

Twice the hope: With Schwarzenegger having come out against the referendum and the California Supreme Court rumored to approve marriage equality next month, Equality California say they are confident that the measure will will be defeated, should it go before the voters.

Of course, it's a not-unreasonable fear that any huge victory such as achieving marriage equality in California may further energize our enemies. I remain convinced that Gavin Newsom's ill-timed 2004 stunt in San Francisco, however magical and thrilling it may have been in the moment, ultimately hurt John Kerry. But while it may be a tough call to balance the valid cries of "If not now, when?" against the realities of election year politics, at least this time around the situation is legitimate.

Nail Salon

Peace Corps To Pozzers: Get Out

The ACLU is warring with the Peace Corps over their policy of rejecting volunteers who are HIV positive.

Jeremiah Johnson joined the Peace Corps because he wanted to help people, but was forced to quit after giving nearly a year and a half of service because he is HIV-positive. Now, Johnson, 25, is working with the American Civil Liberties Union to get the Peace Corps to change its policy on how it treats volunteers with HIV.

"I only want the Peace Corps to change its policy so it is in accordance with federal anti-discriminatory laws," Johnson said. "And if it is in accordance with federal laws, at least clarify what their policy is so another volunteer wont have to experience the stress brought on by this."

Johnson, a 2005 graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, spent more than 16 months teaching English in a Ukrainian secondary school before he was sent home and terminated from the Peace Corps when an HIV test came back positive.

On Monday, the ACLU sent a four-page letter to the Peace Corps on behalf of Johnson, demanding that the they stop barring people with HIV from serving as volunteers. A Peace Corps official declined to comment on the incident until they are able to review the ACLU's letter.

In a written statement they said they cannot discuss medical or other privacy protected matters concerning volunteers. Cates and the ACLU think it is illegal under the Rehabilitation Act for the Peace Corps to discriminate against Johnson because he has HIV. The letter cites a recent federal appeals court decision finding that it is illegal for the Foreign Service to bar people with HIV from serving.

The Peace Corps says it cannot send people with potentially serious medical conditions to remote parts of the world where medical treatment may not be immediately available.

Doctor, He SAID He Was A TOP!

From the wacky world of New York medical litigation:

A hospital did nothing wrong when it tried to examine the rectum of a construction worker who had been hit on the head by a falling wooden beam, a jury found Monday. After deliberating for about an hour, a state Supreme Court jury awarded nothing to Brian Persaud, who sued NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for unspecified damages. The panel found the hospital and its emergency room medical staff were not liable.

Persaud's lawyers, Gerard Marrone and Gary DeFilippo, said he might appeal. "We're very disappointed," Marrone said after the two-week trial. "It's a miscarriage of justice." The hospital's lawyer, Jeffrey Lawton, declined comment.

Marrone said Persaud, 38, was injured while working at a construction site in midtown Manhattan on May 20, 2003. Persaud received eight stitches for a cut over his eyebrow at the hospital, but denied emergency room staffers' request to examine his rectum, the lawyer said. He said doctors told Persaud the exam could help determine whether the accident caused spinal damage.

When Persaud resisted, staffers held him down while he begged, "Please don't do that," Marrone said. Persaud hit a doctor while flailing around, so the staffers gave him a powerful sedative and performed the rectal exam, he said.

Hospital witnesses testified at trial that the exam was never completed, but Marrone said that when Persaud woke up he was handcuffed to a bed and had an oxygen tube down his throat and lubricant in his rectum.

"He resisted because he didn't know what they were doing," DeFilippo said. "Once he said he didn't want the rectal exam, everything should have stopped." DeFilippo said he believes the rectal exam was done as retaliation because his panicked client hit the doctor. A judge dismissed a misdemeanor assault charge that was filed against Persaud because he hit the doctor. DeFilippo said his client is unemployed and has been unable to hold a job since the accident.

Oh, the crippling shame of a rectal exam.

Hillary Goes Nuclear

On Good Morning America today, Hillary Clinton was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons: "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran. In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

Well, this should make the End Of Days people happy.

Fur Break

L-R: Dr. Jeff, Damian (NSFW), and Glenn at the Dugout. [Photo credit: Michael A.K.]

There's A Lot Of Ruin In Metropotamia

I was cruising around Strange Maps and found this February post about Thomas Jefferson's rejected plan on dividing the Northwest Territory into ten states. Jefferson's names were rejected as "too silly." Some factoids about the never-were states:

• Sylvania would have covered much of present-day Minnesota, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and some of northern Wisconsin.
• Michigania would have incorporated most of Wisconsin, but nothing of Michigan.
• Most of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula would have been the state of Chersonesus, which is simply the Greek word for ‘peninsula’.
• The northern part of modern-day Illinois would have been the state of Assenispia, after the Assenisipi River, also known as the Rock River.
• In between Assenispia and Pennsylvania would be the state of Metropotamia, a name referring to the many rivers originating there.
• The states of Illinoia, Saratoga and Washington would have incorporated large parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio respectively.
• Polypotamia (‘Land of Many Rivers’) and Pelisipia would have covered the western and eastern parts of Kentucky, mainly (and therefore are partially outside the Northwest Territory, as it is bounded to the south by the Ohio River, Kentucky’s northern border).

Assenispia. How the school kids would have loved that.

And The Overhead Bins Get More Crowded

Thrilling news.

Five of the six major airlines in the United States plan to start charging coach passengers as much as $25 next month to check a second bag, the latest move in their quest to offset high fuel prices. But while the airlines, and even some industry specialists, say they expect the fees will primarily affect leisure travelers, business travelers beg to differ. “For people traveling with samples or trade show materials, they’re going to find their costs are substantially higher,” an airline industry analyst, Robert Mann, said. “It’s really not limited to leisure travelers.”

Second bag? I was just charged $20 by Spirit for checking ONE bag.

HomoQuotable - Gilbert Baker

"All revolutions start with a word, and the word is no. No to injustice, no to discrimination, no to oppression, no to slavery, no to violence, no to lives dictated by fear. Yes to love. The defiant colors in our flag have unfurled that idea for thirty years.

"The Rainbow Flag lives because it represents us all in our diversity and beauty. It endures because it connects us to nature and transcends words to lift hearts, enlighten minds and inspire courage everywhere.

"My life has been devoted to creating, expanding and evolving its use. In the vernacular of vexillographers, a true flag is torn from the soul of the people, millions of people worldwide united in an expression of love and pride.

"The rainbow flag is an art action. When people fly the rainbow flag, put it on a bumper sticker, or t-shirt, or use any of its endless variations, they are saying something. Right out front they’re saying this is who I am.

"It is a direct visibility action gay people are doing everywhere, phenomenal in every sense. The rainbow is a connector, a global channel, it surfs the wind of change.

"Flags are of the moment. The rainbow flag is a conscious thought, a brave and fearless action. It belongs to everyone. And that is what makes it wonderful." - Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker, marking the flag's 30th anniversary. [Photo credit: Mick Hicks.]

Morning View - Seventh & 42nd

Manhattan Mini Storage: Still Made Of Teh Awesome

I've blogged several times about Manhattan Mini Storage's provocative ad campaigns, which tend to support progressive causes ranging from pro-choice to anti-Bush. Now, in an in-yer-face dig at conservative groups (such as the Catholic League who want Gothamites to boycott the company), they have unveiled a new "Save More Than Your Stuff" program in which they donate $25 (in the name of new customers) to one of five charities: Planned Parenthood, The Coalition To Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, Animal Haven, Citymeals-On-Wheels, and the NYC Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. This is how you win business, in my world at least.

(Via - Good As You)

Online Gay Museum Launches

Proud Heritage, a UK-based online gay museum, launched today. Site features include an archive of gay publications and Walking Proud, a Google-based walking guide to London's gay history and current hotspots.

Nick Poole, Director of the Collections Trust, which is responsible for setting the standards in British museums, welcomed the online museum. "We applaud Proud Heritage on the work achieved already, and we look forward to a successful first few years," he said.

"Proud Heritage is not only an important step forward for the UK's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. It is also leading the way in showing the cultural heritage sector how we can work more openly with all communities. The Collections Trust believes that everyone everywhere should have the right to access and benefit from cultural heritage. Proud Heritage is an outstanding example of how culture can help people connect."

Read the museum's lovely manifesto.

Daily Grumble

Last spring my company reorganized and I was reclassified a "consultant", hired by contract and no longer an employee. (Even though I'm doing the same thing I have been for the last seven years.) Therefore I am now self-insured and while my insurance is 100% tax deductible, I was still floored today to see this month's increase in my premium, which leapt from $636.40 to $800.13.

I called Oxford to inquire and was told flatly that it was "just a standard rate increase", their thanks to me for completing my first year of self-insurance, I presume. Bah. I probably should have shopped around more vigorously, but when it all went down it was just too easy to stay with Oxford. There are some slight advantages to being a "consultant" but it still galls me to write that check every month. This month I think I'll write it out as "Eight Hundred FUCKING Dollars and Thirteen Cents." And then I will shop around.

And here only yesterday I was telling somebody that the only effect of this downward economy that I've personally seen so far is the rise of Honey-Nut Cheerios to $7.99 at the Food Emporium. I was joking, but that'll learn me to tempt fate.

Caption This

Carter: Hamas Will Accept Peace With Israel

Despite earning the wrath of the left and the right for meeting with Hamas, Jimmy Carter seems to have made some progress where others could not.

Jimmy Carter says Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, and other senior members of the Islamic militant group he met with in Damascus have told him they are willing to accept a peace agreement negotiated by the moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas - if the agreement is approved by Palestinians in a referendum.

"They said they would accept a Palestinian state under 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians," Mr. Carter said. "And they would accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbor next door in peace, provided the agreements negotiated by Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas were submitted to the Palestinians for their overall approval - even though Hamas might disagree with some terms of the agreement."

Carter says that Hamas rejected his plea for a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

PhoboQuotable - Matt Barber

"Can you imagine officials at a middle school, junior high or high school setting aside a day to promote "tolerance" for heavy smoking and drinking among children? How about a day where teachers encourage kids to "embrace who they are," pick up that crack pipe and give it a stiff toke?

"But that hasn't stopped officials in thousands of schools across the country from promoting other politically correct and socially "in-vogue" behaviors that – both statistically and manifestly – are every bit as dangerous as the aforementioned frowned-upon behaviors.

"That's exactly what the homosexual activist "Day of Silence" is all about – advancing, through clever, feel-good propaganda and full acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle among children. - Concerned Women For America spokes-asshat Matt Barber, in a WingNutDaily piece titled Surgeon General's Warning: Gay Sex Kills.

Most of Barber's piece hinges around STD rates among gays. Which has everything to do with school bullying.

Auto Phone Sex

Audio is totally NSFW.

(Via Father Tony via Tank Montreal)

Our Blind Governor

The New York Times has a fascinating story on how Gov. Paterson deals with his blindness in his daily duties.

It is a phone number that just a handful of the governor’s senior aides know. At the end of each day they call in and record briefings, laying out what he needs to know about the following day. They recite his schedule, read talking points and explain the intricacies of issues likely to come up. They read memos from staff members and relate biographical details about the people he is likely to meet.

Lots of governors rely on thick briefing books and helpful e-mail notes from their staffs. New York’s governor, David A. Paterson, who is legally blind, has his ears and what his aides call his Batphone. Usually at night, in the Executive Mansion or at his family’s home in Harlem, the governor listens to the recordings on the designated phone line. They run up to five minutes each and can pile up quickly, taking hours to absorb.

“Last night I had 43 messages, all of them five minutes in length,” Mr. Paterson said in an interview. “That would be 215 minutes worth of material — over three hours.”

According to the story, Paterson plays the recordings at a high speed that is incomprehensible to most. He does not read Braille.

Blaming The Victim

In his fight to have Brandon McInerney tried as a juvenile, Public Defender William Quest suggests that school administrators ignored Lawrence King's cross-dressing despite rules against "distracting" attire.

Issues between McInerney and King seemed to start after students and teachers returned from winter break. They had both been at E.O. Green and even had a class together previously, but Quest said he's not aware of any problems until they came back from vacation. It was then that King began dressing differently, becoming a focus of conversations on campus, Quest said.

Students have said they witnessed confrontations between King and McInerney in the weeks or days before the shooting, including King's teasing McInerney and telling him that he liked him.

McInerney perceived King's treatment as harassment, Quest said. Quest, however, declined to discuss any specific confrontations or issues between the boys. He also declined to say if McInerney ever sought help from an adult to deal with the issue.

Quest said he believes school administrators supported one student expressing himself and his sexuality — King — and ignored how it affected other kids, despite complaints. Cross-dressing isn't a normal thing in adult environments, he said, yet 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds were expected to just accept it and go on.

E.O. Green's dress code, which spells out requirements like navy pants and no steel-toed shoes, excludes "any clothing or hairstyle that distracts other students."

Jerry Dannenberg, superintendent of the Hueneme School District, said the school did not allow the dress code to be violated. He wasn't aware of anything in the code that deals with cross-dressing and said schools have to abide by laws that state children don't leave their constitutional rights outside of school.

Schools cannot stop behavior unless it causes "a substantial disruption," Dannenberg said, and he was not aware of any such disturbances before the shooting.

Quest plans to file a motion challenging the constitutionality of trying McInerney as a adult.