JMG: Blog Year Ten
JoeMyGod@gmail.com
Gay culture, short stories, politics, and fabulous disco trivia.
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There will be a fundraiser tribute party tonight for Mel Cheren, "the Godfather of Disco." Top DJs and performers from the days of the Paradise Garage will perform. Get tickets here. Admission benefits LIFEbeat, AREA, and the Gay Men's Health Crisis.
Labels: "celibacy", dance music, GMHC, LIFEBeat, Mel Cheren, nightlife, NYC
A year old transgender rights ordinance in college-town Gainesville, Florida is under attack by right-wingers who are attempting to repeal trans protections via a March ballot measure. And typically, they are using the old "scary pervert in the restroom" ploy to terrify voters.
A blond girl heads from a playground into a women's restroom. A scruffy man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. "Your City Commission Made This Legal,'' the words on the TV screen read. And it's true, sort of. The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city's anti-discrimination ordinance, which now allows the city's roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they're most comfortable using.Here's the clip running on Florida TV:
Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city surrounded by staunchly conservative north Florida. Those who support the transgender protections say their opponents are really unleashing a broader attack on the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals in general.
The city commission approved the restroom provision by a 4-3 vote a year ago. Before the ink could dry, Bible-quoting opponents angrily began working for its repeal. "You are trying to operate in a realm you do not have the authority to operate in,'' one pastor, George Brantley, told the commissioners. The debate is expected to become noisier as the ballot nears with opponents resorting to more TV ads and campaigns pegged to such slogans as ? "Keep Men out of Women's Restrooms and vice versa.''
Labels: "celibacy", Florida, Gainesville, transgender issues
Manhattan Forecast:
Labels: "celibacy", humor, JMG
As a reader correctly observed a couple of days ago, on any site the percentage of visitors who bother to click over to take part in a poll is always in the very low single digits. And since Andy Towle's single digits are a lot more than mine, yeah, this beauty pageant is pretty much over. However, since y'all have been enjoying dishing about the photos, here's one much more to my taste. Call me "Miss Blog Congeniality '08."Labels: "celibacy"
Noting her lack of elected office experience, NY Gov. David Paterson is telling the press that Caroline Kennedy is not guaranteed to be his choice to fill Hillary Clinton's senate seat.
“The notion that I have to take Caroline is not coming from me,” Paterson said in an interview in his Capitol office. He said “gossip” has become a “greater force right now than my decision” and suggested the media have become too consumed with just one big-named candidate. “What I would say is that, to the media it’s Caroline and the others. To me, there are 10 to 15 good candidates,” said the governor, who will appoint the successor to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton after she is confirmed later this month as U. S. secretary of state.Much as with Obama's appointments, all candidates have had to complete exhaustive questionnaires about their personal lives, including whether they write blogs or use Facebook. Candidates have also had to supply the web addresses of relatives who may have MySpace pages or other personal sites. They've also had to say if they've had any dealings with Bernie Madoff.
Labels: "celibacy", Caroline Kennedy, David Paterson, Hillary Clinton, Senate
Surprising nobody, new data reveals that health costs and other benefits are wreaking havoc on NYC's budget. Average salaries for NYC employees went up 33% since 2000 (very comparable to the 29% inflation rate since then), but the cost of employee benefits soared 186%. Overall compensation cost has risen 66% in just eight years. The NY Post points out that the salaries on the above chart are averages that include very low level employees. Firefighters, whose contracts call for built-in overtime and 20-year retirements, 'cost' an average of $186,464 each. Cops, with similarly generous benefits, came in at $164,045. Teachers and other instructional personnel averaged $98,505. The remaining civilian workers brought up the rear at $83,279." The CBC's Carol Kellerman tells the NY Times, “These skyrocketing costs are stunning, and they impose an enormous, and growing, burden on increasingly strained taxpayers. Corrective action is essential and can no longer be delayed.”You can view the salaries of all NYC positions here.
Some of this is attributed to Mayor Bloomberg's generous policies and contract re-negotiations, but his office says the mayor supports pension reform but can't do anything about it without the state's action (Governor Paterson has more recently promised to help). Mayoral spokesman Marc LaVorgna added, “Rapidly rising [health care] costs are not unique to New York City government. That’s a national problem and there’s really not a local solution to what’s a national health care problem.”
Labels: "celibacy", economy, health care, NYC
Cafe Fugo, 1st Avenue, 1pm
Labels: "celibacy", NYC, Overheard
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached by the state legislature today by a vote of 141-1. The measure only needed 60 votes to pass. Legislators accused the second-term Democratic governor of letting down the people of Illinois by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions. "It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat. Blagojevich was out jogging in his Chicago neighborhood when the vote came down. His office declined to comment, but said he would issue a statement Friday afternoon. During the House's 90-minute debate on impeachment, no one spoke up to defend the governor. But Rep. Milton Patterson, a Chicago Democrat, made the sole vote against impeaching Blagojevich. Patterson said he read the impeachment committee's report and wasn't comfortable voting against the governor. "I have no firsthand knowledge of any of the evidence," he said.Impeachment is similar to a criminal indictment. It is not a finding of guilt.
Labels: "celibacy", Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, scandal
-The economy is taking its toll on Broadway with nine shows already closed in the new year, including Hairspray, Grease, Boeing-Boeing, Young Frankenstein, Spamalot, and 13. Seven more shows are slated to close by the end of February.
-Bradford Louryk will star in Christine Jorgensen Reveals as the story of America's most famous transsexual returns to Off-Broadway at the Lion's Pub Theatre on February 26th. Via Playbill: In the production, according to press notes, Louryk "morphs his six-foot frame into a completely convincing demure woman of the 1950s who stands no taller than 5-foot-6-inches in a size ten suit draped over an extremely petite 120-pound figure." Louryk lip-synchs Jorgensen's only recorded interview; his performance "is a one-man-tour-de-force-paintakingly-acurate-reincarnation of those searing and revolutionary 51 minutes."-On Monday night the four North American casts of Wicked will give simultaneous performances of Defying Inequality which will "feature musical performances that support Wicked's theme of acceptance and illuminate the musical’s message that people should not be judged on first impressions." The shows benefit Empire State Pride Agenda, Garden State Equality, Equality California, and Vermont Freedom To Marry. The shows take place in NYC, Chicago, LA, and Louisville.
The show benefits the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. The event's creator, Robert Bartley, will direct. John Kander and Terrence McNally will serve as co-chairs. Confirmed performers for the event are Mario Cantone, Alan Cumming, Gina Gershon, Whoopi Goldberg, Aaron Lazar, Megan Mullally, Becki Newton, Jai Rodriguez, Christopher Sieber, John Tartaglia, Marty Thomas, and Michael Urie. Additional performers will be named in the coming weeks.Tickets are $75-$250 and benefit the NYC LGBT Center. Get tickets here. I went last year and it was FANTASTIC.
Labels: "celibacy", Broadway, Broadway Backwards 4
Advertising wonks say that Barack Obama's public devotion to his Blackberry would be worth as much as $50M if the president were able to sign an endorsement deal.
President-elect Barack Obama has repeatedly said how much his BlackBerry means to him and how he is dreading the prospect of being forced to give it up, because of legal and security concerns, once he takes office. “I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”Shades of Idiocracy to be sure, but I can imagine a day when sitting presidents make product endorsements.
What could the “BlackBerry president” charge for his plugs of the device if he were not a public servant? More than $25 million, marketing experts say, and maybe as much as $50 million. “This would be almost the biggest endorsement deal in the history of endorsements,” said Doug Shabelman, the president of Burns Entertainment, which arranges deals between celebrities and companies. “He’s consistently seen using it and consistently in the news arguing — and arguing with issues of national security and global welfare — how he absolutely needs this to function on a daily basis.”
Labels: "celibacy", advertising, Barack Obama, Blackberry, technology
Nine months after selling them Out and Advocate magazines, PlanetOut has been acquired by Regent Media. Regent's purchase of Gay.com and the other remaining PlanetOut assets completes the years-long death spiral of the once-great LGBT media company. It appears that all the former PlanetOut properties will continue to operate under the new combined company.
Regent Entertainment Media, publishers of The Advocate and Out magazines and owner of the here! TV network announced Thursday that it has signed a merger agreement with PlanetOut Inc. The combined company will be known as Here Media Inc, 80% of which will be owned by the owners of Regent Entertainment Media. In addition to here!, The Advocate, and Out, Regent Entertainment Media also publishes HIVPlus and Alyson Books. Its online presence includes Advocate.com, Out.com, HIVPlusMag.com, OutTraveler.com, GayWired.com, and SheWired.com. PlanetOut runs two of the longest-established gay sites on the Web, PlanetOut.com and Gay.com.Shares of PlanetOut are trading at $0.73 today, down from a 52-week high of $6.28.
“This business combination will unite a powerful broadband video solution with an iconic brand and a leading URL in the LGBT community,” said Paul Colichman, CEO of Regent Entertainment Media. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity to leverage this exceptional collection of assets to expand our audience, grow our revenues, and increase stockholder value.”
Labels: "celibacy", Here TV, PlanetOut, publishing, Regent Media
The December unemployment numbers are out and things are worse than feared..
The nation's unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs. The labor market is expected to remain weak as mass layoffs continue. The Labor Department's report, released Friday, underscored the terrible toll the deepening recession is having on workers and companies, and highlights the hard task President-elect Barack Obama faces in resuscitating the flat-lined economy. For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost. Although the number of jobs in the U.S. has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still being painfully felt. With employers throttling back hiring, the nation's jobless rate averaged 5.8 percent last year. That was up sharply from 4.6 percent in 2007 and was the highest since 2003.Be good at work today.
Labels: "celibacy", economy, unemployment
The Victory Fund wants former HRC board co-chair Fred Hochberg to replace Bill Richardson as Secretary of Commerce. It would be Obama's last chance to put an openly LGBT person in his cabinet.Denis Dison, spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, said his organization and the Presidential Appointments Project continue to encourage Obama to nominate an openly gay person for his Cabinet and that the new vacancy “presents another opportunity for them to look at an LGBT applicant.”(Via - NY Blade)
Dison said Hochberg, a gay man who previously was under consideration to head the Small Business Administration, is “out there today as the best chance the LGBT community” has for a nominee as commerce secretary. “And the good thing is, he is qualified,” Dison said. “If you look at his background and look at his role in business and in government, you know it’s somebody who could step into that role.”
Dison said he has no “inside knowledge” regarding whom Obama is considering for commerce secretary or what the chances are for a gay person to fill the position. Hochberg serves on the Obama transition team and declined to comment for this article. He served as deputy and acting administrator of the SBA under President Clinton and until recently was the dean of Milano, the New School for Management & Urban Policy in New York. HRC spokesperson Brad Luna told the Blade last month that Hochberg is a “major donor” to HRC, a former board co-chair, an emeritus member of the board and a member of HRC’s public policy committee.
Labels: "celibacy", Bill Richardson, Fred Hochberg, Obama cabinet, Victory Fund
Man, you really gotta hand it to Burger King's ad people for finding all these innovative ways to get folks talking. First there was the creepily hilarious Subservient Chicken, then the hamburger-scented body spray, and now, probably best of all, this. It's a common problem for anyone who joined Facebook some time ago. You look at your friend list and wonder who these people are. Burger King wants to help consumers do something about it. The fast-food chain has released the Whopper Sacrifice application on Facebook. The app rewards people with a coupon for BK's signature burger when they cull 10 friends. Each time a friend is excommunicated, the application sends a notification to the banished party via Facebook's news feed explaining that the user's love for the unlucky soul is less than his or her zeal for the Whopper. The effort crafted by Crispin Porter + Bogusky came about after agency creative staffers confronted the too-many-friends scenario themselves on Facebook.A free Whopper for every ten people you unfriend? Some of you could eat free for years. And there doesn't seem to be any provision against re-friending, say, after lunch. Sure, somebody will create a fake group for everyone to friend and unfriend, but BK still gets their message out. Very very clever.
Labels: "celibacy", advertising, Burger King, Facebook, internet
We knew this was coming. The Prop 8 haters want California to take down the donor records.
Supporters of the November ballot measure that banned gay marriages in California have filed a lawsuit seeking to block their campaign finance records from public view, saying the reports have led to harassment of donors. "No one should have to worry about getting a death threat because of the way he or she votes," said James Bopp Jr., an attorney representing two groups that supported Proposition 8, Protect Marriage.com and the National Organization for Marriage California. "This lawsuit will protect the right of all people to help support causes they agree with, without having to worry about harassment or threats."Geoffrey Kors of Equality California: "They've used these records to attack corporations, to attack individuals. The Yes on 8 campaign sent blackmail letters to No on 8 supporters. It's just amazing hypocrisy. But it's the kind of tactics we've seen from them throughout the campaign and time and time again since."
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Sacramento, asks the court to order the secretary of state's office to remove all donations for the proposition from its Web site. The groups announced the lawsuit Thursday. It also asks the court to relieve the two groups and "all similarly situated persons" from having to meet the state's campaign disclosure requirements. That would include having to file a final report on Proposition 8 contributions at the end of January, as well as reports for any future campaigns the groups undertake.
Labels: "celibacy", California, campaign finance, Proposition 8, Yes On 8
In 1971 George Harrison's My Sweet Lord became the first single by an ex-Beatle to go to #1, staying there for three weeks. It's the only #1 song in chart history with Hindi lyrics, as the background singers sing the traditional Hare Krishna prayer. Harrison provided lead vocals and engineered the recording, with frequent Beatles sideman Billy Preston playing all instruments, except for eventual Yes member Alan White who played drums. The record was listed on a charts as a double-sided single with Isn't It A Pity, although Pity was much less played.
Labels: "celibacy", #1 This Week, music
Today it was Dick Cheney's duty as Vice President to stand before Congress, formally confirm the votes of the Electoral College, and name Barack Obama as our new president. Which, you know, totally killed him to do.
Labels: "celibacy", Barack Obama, Congress, Dick Cheney, electoral college
Right-wing filmmaker Jon Zeigler sits Sarah Palin down to rip on bloggers, Katie Couric, Tina Fey, and the liberal gotcha media. Palin's reaction to Fey's most quoted joke about Bristol and Levi: "The Mama Grizzly rises up in me hearing things like that." This clip is an excerpt from Zeigler's coming documentary, How Obama Got Elected.
Labels: "celibacy", 2012 elections, Bristol Palin, Katie Couric, Levi Johnston, Sarah Palin, Tina Fey
A small outbreak of tuberculosis has been traced back to Castro-area gay bars, where a bartender was apparently infected by a patron. SF's public health department is screening bar employees all over the Castro.
San Francisco health officials have traced several cases of tuberculosis to patrons of Castro gay bars, with one of the people infected a bartender in the area. The discovery has prompted them to ask 140 employees of businesses in the gay neighborhood who may have been exposed to an active case of TB to get screened for the potentially deadly disease.TB is an airborne disease commonly spread by coughs and sneezes; bar employees appear to be particularly susceptible due to poor ventilation. The disease is easily treated in the early stages, but can be particularly difficult to treat in the HIV-positive. The number of TB cases in the U.S. have been steadily dropping for many years and is now primarily found in immigrants who arrive with the disease.
To handle the large number of people being asked to cooperate with the request, the health department has set up a special screening site at Magnet, the gay men's community health center in the Castro, that will be open over the first two weeks of January. Those screened will be given an advanced blood test for TB, and people who are HIV-positive, and particularly at risk for TB, will also be given a chest X-ray. The screenings are meant to identify anyone who is at risk for developing TB and provide them with follow up treatment necessary to control the disease. More than 50 people have reportedly already been tested.
Labels: "celibacy", gay health, nightlife, San Francisco, The Castro, tuberculosis
Spider-Man fan Barack Obama has become one of the few real-life people to be featured in a major comic book series.In a growing world of Barack Obama collectibles, one item soon may be swinging above the rest. On Jan. 14, Marvel Comics is releasing a special issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with Obama depicted on the cover. Inside are five pages of the two teaming up and even a fist-bump between Spidey and the new president.The issue is expected to sell out and become a collectible, but it probably won't be super valuable except for the lucky few whose copies Obama may sign. Many presidents have appeared in comics before, most notably when DC Comics was embarrassed when their issue featuring JFK hit the stands one week after his assassination.
"It was a natural after we learned the new president is a Spider-Man fan," says Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada about reports that Obama once collected Spider-Man comics. "We thought, 'Fantastic! We have a comic-book geek in the White House.' "
The White House transition team did not respond to a question about the extent of Obama's comic-book geekiness, but Obama did mention Spider-Man during the campaign, primarily at children-oriented events. And during an Entertainment Weekly pop culture survey, Obama said Batman and Spider-Man were his top superheroes because of their "inner turmoil." (John McCain picked Batman.)
Labels: "celibacy", Barack Obama, comic books, Spider-Man
Totally not-gay former Sen. Larry Craig has dropped his appeal of his already-pleaded-guilty restroom trolling charge. A lawyer for former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig says they won't ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to void his conviction in an airport bathroom sex sting. Minneapolis attorney Tom Kelly said today they concluded that the state Supreme Court would not accept a petition for further review of the case, so it would be a futile exercise. He says that means the legal wrangling in the case is over. Today was the 30-day deadline for Craig to ask the high court to review a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision that went against him.It was a bullshit charge that he should have never copped to in the first place.
Labels: "celibacy", closet cases, Congress, entrapment, Larry Craig, three dollar bill
The American Family Association routinely announces boycotts of corporations that have made gay-friendly advertising, employment, or charity decisions. And about a year later, when the boycott remains virtually unnoticed by the American consumer, the AFA fabricates the concession of the company in question and announces the triumphant end to their boycott.PepsiCo has refused a request by AFA to remain neutral in the culture war. The company indicated that it will continue major financial support of homosexual organizations. AFA wrote Pepsi two times (on October 14 and October 29) requesting a meeting to discuss Pepsi's neutrality in the culture war. On November 17, AFA received a condescending letter (dated Nov. 7) from Paul Boykas, director, public policy, in which he refused to address Pepsi's support of the homosexual agenda.
In the last two years, Pepsi has given $500,000 to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and $500,000 to the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). The $1,000,000 was to be used to help promote homosexuality in the workplace. Pepsi refuses to give money to any pro-family organization that opposes the homosexual agenda. Plus, every homosexual organization we know of is overwhelmingly pro-abortion. Both HRC and PFLAG supported efforts in California to defeat Proposition 8 which defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. HRC, the homosexual group financially supported by Pepsi, gave $2.3 million to defeat Prop 8. Pepsi forces all employees to attend sexual orientation and gender identity diversity training where they are taught to accept homosexuality.
In a few months, expect the AFA to victoriously announce the tumbled revenues of PepsiCo, followed a few months later by the AFA claim that Pepsi has agreed to abandon gay-friendly policies. Lying makes the Baby Jeebus cry, y'all.Labels: "celibacy", AFA, assholism, boycott, HRC, Pepsi, PFLAG, religion
Last night MTV's The Real World debuted its 20th season with a house cast that includes a gay man, a bisexual woman, and a transgender woman. Could be interesting. The cast house is located in the semi-scary nabe of Red Hook, Brooklyn. Via Good As You, here's the full first episode.
Labels: "celibacy", Brooklyn, MTV, Real World, television, transgender issues
Marriage is one man + one woman alert: Canada has arrested two leaders of a Mormon polygamous sect. Two top leaders of a polygamous community in western Canada have been arrested and charged with practicing polygamy, British Columbia's attorney general said Wednesday. Attorney General Wally Oppal said Winston Blackmore is charged with marrying 20 women, while James Oler is accused of marrying two women. Oppal, who said the charges carry a maximum penalty of five yeras in prison, said the case will be the first test of Canada's polygamy laws. "This has been a very complex issue," he said. "It's been with us for well over 20 years. The problem has always been the defense of religion has always been raised."Blackmore brags that he has dozens of children by his 20 wives. The polygamists say they expect that the charges will be dismissed under Canada's freedom of religion laws.
Blackmore, long known as "the Bishop of Bountiful," runs an independent sect of about 400 members in the town of Bountiful. He once ran the Canadian arm of the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was ejected in 2003 by that group's leader, Warren Jeffs. Oler is the bishop of Bountiful's FLDS community loyal to Jeffs. Even though many of the town's residents are related or have same last name, followers of the two leaders are splintered and are not allowed to talk with each other. FLDS members practice polygamy in arranged marriages, a tradition tied to the early theology of the Mormon church. Mormons renounced polygamy in 1890 as a condition of Utah's statehood.
Labels: "celibacy", Canada, FLDS, Mormons, religion, sanctity of marriage
Another example of why PETA has lost what little credibility they had.
What's wrong with the name Whitefish High School? According to P.E.T.A., the use of the word "Whitefish" does not promote empathy for fish and other marine animals. P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal) sent a letter to Whitefish High School Principal Kent Paulson, urging him to change the name of the high school from "Whitefish High" to "Sea Kitten High". P.E.T.A. launched their Sea Kitten Campaign in October, in hopes that everyone will start referring to fish and other marine animals as sea kittens. The letter states, "we're proposing that Whitefish High School adopt a new name to reflect the gentle nature of it's current marine namesake. If the town starts calling fish, "sea kittens", fewer of these gentle animals would be violently killed for food, painfully hooked for "sport," or cruelly confined to aquariums".We should totally start calling birds "Sky puppies."
Labels: "celibacy", dumbassery, PETA
Senegal, which recently hosted a major international AIDS conference, has sentenced nine gay men to eight years in prison for "unnatural and indecent acts." Most of the men are HIV/AIDS activists. The jailing in Senegal of nine gay men for eight years over "indecent conduct and unnatural acts" has been condemned by an international gay rights group. Homosexual acts are illegal in Senegal but the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) told the BBC it was "shocked by the ruling". The judge added three years to a five-year sentence, saying the men were also members of a criminal group. Most of them belonged to an association set up to fight HIV and Aids.For years, gay people have been fleeing Senegal for safer neighboring countries.
"This is the first time that the Senegalese legal system has handed down such a harsh sentence against gays," said Issa Diop, one of the men's four defence lawyers. Mr Diop said he would be appealing against the sentences. The IGLHRC's Cary Alan Johnson said he was "deeply disturbed" by the case. "There have been pretty consistent human rights violations… in Senegal," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme from Cape Town in South Africa. "But the extremity of this sentence [and] the rapidness of the trial all really shocks us in a country which has been moving so positively towards rule of law and a progressive human rights regime."
Labels: "celibacy", activism, Africa, HIV/AIDS, LGBT rights, Senegal
The Westboro Baptist Church has been given permission to picket Barack Obama's inauguration. NBC reports that the US National Park Service has granted Westboro Baptist Church a permit to protest on Inauguration Day, January 20th. 15 members will be in a corner of John Marshal Memorial Park on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue. This year the inauguration parade will include the Lesbian and Gay Band Association as a marching contingent. It is the first time a gay group has been asked to march. During his inauguration parades President Clinton allowed the LGBA to perform on the street. Officials are unsure how many people will come to Washington to take part in the inauguration celebrations, but it has been reported that up to five million people may be on the streets, lining the parade route and packing into open spaces in front of the Capitol. Less than half a million attended the inaguration of George W Bush in 2005.I still say the Westboro nutters are one of the best things ever to happen to the LGBT movement. Every time they leave their sewer, the MSM writes 100 sympathetic stories about gay rights. We should be paying these people.
Labels: "celibacy", Inauguration Day, insanity, mental illness, religion, Westboro
Defender of the First Amendment, Larry Flynt, and defender of his multiple charges of scumbaggery, Joe Francis, say they are going to ask Congress for a bailout of the porn industry.
Joe Francis and Larry Flynt claim the economy has made America's sexual appetite go limp, so they're going to the one place where sex is always rampant -- Congress. Flynt (the "Hustler" guy) and Francis (the "Girls Gone Wild" dude) are asking the government for a $5 billion bailout, claiming the adult entertainment industry has taken a huge shot to the face because of the downturn -- citing the fact that XXX DVD sales are down 22% from a year ago. "With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind," Flynt says. "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America." Francis sees his industry like the big three automakers, only BIGGER: "Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration."Francis says he's going to DC to make his appeal in person. I thought he was under house arrest for the next zillion years?
Labels: "celibacy", economy, Joe Francis, Larry Flynt, porn
Labels: "celibacy", Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow
Labels: "celibacy", #1 This Week, music
I don't know yet if this list is in reaction to the list issued by the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. Links go to more detailed GLAAD pages on each item. Note that some names have multiple links. In alphabetical order, here are the biggest haters according to GLAAD.
Bill O'Reilly (Host, The O'Reilly Factor, FOX News Channel)
Bill O'Reilly, who frequently appears on GLAAD's monthly "Best and Worst of National News," led a one-sided and inaccurate discussion of marriage equality on May 15 with Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly, who compared marriage for same-sex couples with polygamy and incest. Earlier this year, O'Reilly said Americans don't want to see "homosexual behavior legitimized" in reference to Whoopi Goldberg briefly kissing Katy Perry on The View on July 31, and he criticized Heinz for a TV commercial that included a kiss between two men on June 20. Most recently on December 10, he referred to the staff of the Los Angeles Times as "pinheads" for endorsing the Day Without a Gay protest against Proposition 8.
California's Yes on Proposition 8 Campaign
The Yes on Proposition 8 campaign filled the airwaves with deliberately misleading commercials about Proposition 8, which eliminated the right to marry for loving and committed same-sex couples in California. The ads relied on scare tactics and spread inflammatory lies, including that the defeat of Proposition 8 would mean changes in schools and churches. These ads used misinformation to shape public opinion and helped sway voters to pass the discriminatory ban, in spite of various legal experts and mainstream media outlets uniformly denouncing the dishonest approach.
Greg Gutfeld (Host, Red Eye, FOX News Channel)
FOX News Channel's late-night show Red Eye continued to feature sophomoric jabs at LGBT people. On May 20, host Greg Gutfeld and his guests grossly misrepresented serious medical concerns faced by transgender youth and laughed as one of his guests referred to transition as "turning a hole into a pole." Then Gutfeld criticized Ellen DeGeneres for announcing her upcoming wedding, saying Ellen should "shut the hell up about it." In his September 17 blog, Gutfeld ranted about diplomats saying, "These bloated bureaucrats would learn more in two days ducking for cover in Liberia, than two weeks trying to pick up transvestite hookers in Times Square."
James Dobson (Founder, Focus on the Family)
A national media platform gave airtime to an anti-gay activist when James Dobson, founder of anti-gay organization Focus on the Family, appeared on an episode of CNN Headline News and made false claims about Proposition 8, including that if the proposition failed, there would be a "spate of lawsuit against churches" and "all textbooks would have to be republished" and "everything in schools will change." The Museum of Broadcast Communications chose to honor Dobson by inducting Focus on the Family into the Radio Hall of Fame, despite his history of anti-gay rhetoric and lies. GLAAD produced a viral video to raise awareness of Dobson's attacks on the LGBT community and released a Call to Action against the Museum for honoring Dobson's lies and distortions aimed to hurt and marginalize LGBT people.
Jim Quinn (Host, The War Room With Quinn & Rose, Clear Channel)
During the November 6 broadcast of the nationally syndicated radio program The War Room with Quinn & Rose, co-host Jim Quinn made highly offensive and ignorant statements including "[G]ay marriage doesn't produce anything that the state has an interest in. Gay sex produces AIDS, which the state doesn't have – or should have an interest in. They should charge homosexuals more for their health insurance than they charge the rest of us." Despite numerous complaints from GLAAD's Call to Action, Clear Channel refused to issue an apology and has not disciplined Quinn for his disgusting and unacceptable remarks.
John Gibson (Host, The John Gibson Show, FOX News Radio)
Fox News Radio Host John Gibson was responsible for making made several tasteless, juvenile anti-gay jokes on his program. GLAAD first issued a Call to Action after he mocked the passing of actor Heath Ledger by making anti-gay jokes about his role in Brokeback Mountain on Fox News Radio's The John Gibson Show. As a result of the response by GLAAD's members, Gibson apologized for these remarks, but continued using anti-gay jokes on May 2. During a clip of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who is openly gay, Gibson cut to an audio clip of someone saying, "Oh, lesbians! Yummy!"
Laura Ingraham (Host, The Laura Ingraham Show)
Transgender people were repeatedly used as punching bags by Fox News Channel and guest Laura Ingraham, even as violence and harassment against transgender people continued with disturbing frequency throughout 2008. While guest hosting Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor on February 8, Ingraham interrupted a guest by saying that a transgender conference was "killing the culture." Earlier this year on The O'Reilly Factor, she questioned how parents of a transgender youth "aren't embarrassed" by their child, and most recently, on December 11, she alluded that being gay is a "bad choice" when discussing a Newsweek feature on marriage for same-sex couples.
In 2008, the New York Post continued its long history of sensationalistic treatment of LGBT people and issues with two highly problematic headlines. On January 25, the tabloid printed the headline "Evil Lesbian Mom Left Toddler to Die Slow Death: DA," despite the fact that such a gratuitous description would not have been used were the subject straight. Additionally, on February 7, the Post dehumanized the transgender community by publishing the egregious headline "Axis of She-Vil" and sub-headline, "Death to Gays But Free Ops For Irani Trannies."
Rick Warren has a history of using the media as a platform to spread divisive anti-gay rhetoric. Warren spread inaccuracies about Proposition 8, saying that it would "prevent him from getting up on the pulpit and speaking out against same-sex marriage" on Dateline. He also participated in a video interview with The Wall Street Journal on December 18 where he said that marriage for gay and lesbian couples was the equivalent of "having a brother and sister be together," "an older guy marrying a child" and "one guy having multiple wives." After President-elect Obama chose Warren to lead the invocation at the Presidential inauguration, GLAAD distributed instances of Warren's anti-gay defamation on glaadBLOG as a resource for journalists and bloggers.
Representative Sally Kern (R-OK)
Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern made headlines in March after telling a group of supporters that "the homosexual agenda is destroying our nation" in a gathering of Republicans outside the Capitol. She went on to say that the gay community is "the death knell in this country" and "the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism." GLAAD provided media training and media outreach support to local Oklahoma groups to ensure that LGBT advocates were included in local media coverage and balanced the harmful effects of such hateful remarks from an elected official.
Sean Delonas (Cartoonist, New York Post)
The New York Post and cartoonist Sean Delonas, who has been the subject of three GLAAD Calls to Action, continued juvenile treatments of LGBT issues in an editorial cartoon that ran after openly gay actor George Takei announced his upcoming marriage to his partner in California. Delonas drew crew members from Star Trek, which Takei appeared on as Sulu, looking on in disbelief as Takei exchanged nuptials with a man. One character was drawn saying "Totally Illogical, Captain." GLAAD placed a Call to Action to demand that the New York Post stop printing such immature items on their editorial pages.
Labels: "celibacy", Bill O'Reilly, GLAAD, Greg Gutfield, James Dobson, Jim Quinn, John Gibson, Laura Ingraham, New York Post, Rick Warren, Sally Kern, Sean Delonas, Yes On 8
One of the most contentious, embarrassing, and ridiculous sagas in the history of the New York Democratic party (and that's saying something) is over.Democrats have taken control of New York's Senate for the first time in 43 years after whittling away the Republicans' last stronghold in state government over the last decade and then fending off a challenge from within their own party. Hours after the Democrats shored up a 32-30 majority won in the November elections, they chose Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens as their majority leader on Wednesday. The action gave Democrats control of the Senate, Assembly and governor's office for the first time since the 1930s. Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican, is expected to be the minority leader.After all the anti-gay bullshit from the Gang of Three, the dissident dumbos supported Smith in return for leadership concessions much smaller than they originally demanded.
LGBT New Yorkers and our allies should be proud today. We now not only have a Senate Majority Leader who supports our issues, but one that has stated a number of times that he will help us find the support needed to pass crucial bills like marriage equality, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act and the Dignity for All Students Act. We should also be proud that our community helped to make this happen by working hard during the November 4 elections to replace two anti-LGBT State Senators with two new, pro-LGBT State Senators.Jeff Campagna, leader of the Facebook-based group, The Power, who campaigned vigorously against the Gang of Three in support of Malcolm Smith, reacts:
Our community now has more work to do. Today we know that we have supportive leadership, but we also know that we do not yet have the votes that we need to pass some of our most important bills. In the months to come, join us as we work in districts across the state to build the support that will allow us to bring these bills to the Senate floor to be passed. It will take hard work—none of our victories have ever been easy—but together we can do it.
I congratulate Malcolm Smith on his election as Senate Majority Leader after forty years of Republican control of that chamber. The people of New York can be proud that they came together and sent a clear message to our elected leaders that they will not tolerate the use of the LGBT civil rights as a political bargaining chip. The Democrats are to be commended for hearing that message. Malcolm Smith's election means that LGBT people have a chance to achieve marriage equality, where under the Republicans we had none. That said, if the last two months have taught us anything, it's that even within the Democratic Party, there are enemies of equality and others who have yet to join our cause. So this is just the beginning of our fight. We must continue to organize and speak out. But have no doubt, we will prevail.
Labels: "celibacy", Democrats, Malcolm Smith, marriage equality, New York state
Yesterday openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty introduced a resolution that condemns the vandalism of the Most Holy Redeemer Church. WHEREAS, Most Holy Redeemer Church, a Catholic community established in 1900 and located within the heart of San Francisco's Castro District, is widely known as a Gay-friendly parish; andHey Catholic League, hey Bill Donahue, looky here! Gay leadership in the city government IS condemning acts of vandalism against the church. Will you notice and acknowledge Bevan Dufty's action?
WHEREAS, For over 20 years the community of Most Holy Redeemer Church has sustained an active AIDS support group providing direct care to persons with HIV disease and assistance to those who love and care for them; and
WHEREAS, Most Holy Redeemer Church established a Peace and Social Justice Group to reflect upon and address issues of justice both inside and outside the church, particularly in response to sexism, homophobia, racism, and the willful failure to protect the poor and underserved; and
WHEREAS, The Community Life Committee of Most Holy Redeemer is made up of various organizations in the parish that form the faith and build a deeper sense of community for all ages and interest groups in the parish and the extended local community regardless of religious affiliation; therefore, now be it
RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco does hereby condemn the recent intimidation of Most Holy Redeemer Church and its parishoners through acts of vandalism, specifically the defacing of its exterior with spray-painted graffiti that included the names of church leaders and the depictions of swastikas; and therefore, be
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco commends the significant accomplishments and contributions made by the faith community of Most Holy Redeemer Church to the City of St. Francis.
Labels: "celibacy", Bevan Dufty, Catholic League, Proposition 8, religion, San Francisco
Apologists for Obama's selection of Rick Warren continually point to his work in fighting AIDS in Africa. OH, but hang on a motherfucking minute. In exhaustive piece at Daily Beast, Max Blumenthal rips the fucking lid off the real job Warren is doing in Africa with his right-hand man Martin Ssempe. [S]ince the Warren inauguration controversy erupted, the nature of work against AIDS in Africa has gone unexamined. Warren has not been particularly forthcoming to those who have attempted to look into it. His website contains scant information about the results of his program. However, an investigation into Warren’s involvement in Africa reveals a web of alliances with right-wing clergymen who have sidelined science-based approaches to combating AIDS in favor of abstinence-only education. More disturbingly, Warren’s allies have rolled back key elements of one of the continent’s most successful initiative, the so-called ABC program in Uganda. Stephen Lewis, the United Nations’ special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told the New York Times their activism is “resulting in great damage and undoubtedly will cause significant numbers of infections which should never have occurred.”Got that Melissa Etheridge? Rick Warren is causing MORE AIDS in Africa and is directly funding the persecutions and arrests of homosexuals. Please read Max Blumenthal's piece in its entirety.
Warren’s man in Uganda is a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa. The head of the Makerere Community Church, a rapidly growing congregation, Ssempe enjoys close ties to his country’s First Lady, Janet Museveni, and is a favorite of the Bush White House. In the capitol of Kampala, Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.
[snip]
With safe sex advocates on the run, Warren and Ssempa trained their sights on another social evil. In August 2007, Ssempa led hundreds of his followers through the streets of Kampala to demand that the government mete out harsh punishments against gays. “Arrest all homos,” read placards. And: “A man cannot marry a man.” Ssempa continued his crusade online, publishing the names of Ugandan gay rights activists on a website he created, along with photos and home addresses. “Homosexual promoters,” he called them, suggesting they intended to seduce Uganda’s children into their lifestyle. Soon afterwards, two of President Yoweri Museveni’s top officials demanded the arrest of the gay activists named by Ssempa. Terrified, the activists immediately into hiding.
Labels: "celibacy", abstinence, Barack Obama, HIV/AIDS, Inauguration Day, Martin SSempa, religion, Rick Warren, Uganda
Labels: "celibacy", Ann Coulter, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has released a new study (PDF) which shows that support for Proposition 8 was driven more by party affiliation and frequency of church attendance than by race, as has been previously speculated.
An in-depth analysis of the Proposition 8 vote released today shows that party affiliation, political ideology, frequency of attending worship services and age were the driving forces behind the measure’s passage on Nov. 4. The study finds that after taking into account the effect of religious service attendance, support for Proposition 8 among African Americans and Latinos was not significantly different than other groups. Through a precinct-by-precinct analysis and review of multiple other sources of data, the study also puts African-American support for Proposition 8 at no more than 59 percent, nowhere close to the 70 percent reported the night of the election. Finally, the study shows how support for marriage equality has grown substantially across almost all California demographic groups — except Republicans.Another excerpt from the press release:
The study was written by Patrick J. Egan, Ph.D., assistant professor of politics and public policy at New York University, and Kenneth Sherrill, Ph.D., professor of political science at Hunter College, CUNY. Egan and Sherrill reviewed pre- and post-election polls, and precinct-level voting data from five California counties with the highest number of African-American voters. The study was commissioned by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund in San Francisco, and released under the auspices of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute.
Since the passage of Proposition 8, much has been said about the supposed dramatic opposition to marriage equality among African Americans, fueled by National Election Pool (NEP) figures based on sampling in only a few precincts that erroneously indicated 70 percent of California’s African Americans supported Proposition 8. The study found that when religious service attendance was factored out, however, there was no significant difference between African Americans and other groups. In other words, people of all races and ethnicities who worship at least once a week overwhelmingly supported Proposition 8, with support among white, Asian and Latino frequent churchgoers actually being greater than among African Americans.
Labels: "celibacy", marriage equality, NGLTF, Proposition 8
An appellate court in Brooklyn has upheld a lower court's ruling that Westchester County did not violate the New York constitution when it offered marriage benefits to same-sex couples. The ruling has led a senior attorney with Lambda Legal to declare: "Marriage has come to New York for same-sex couples."
A state appeals court has upheld an unflinching ruling by a lower court that Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano did not violate the state constitution or earlier court rulings when he ordered county departments to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states and countries. Spano's 2006 executive order had little practical impact because the county bestows only a handful of minor rights on married couples, including the right to buy family passes to county parks. But advocates say the two rulings upholding Spano's order multiplied its limited impact by affirming that localities are free to recognize gay couples who marry in Connecticut and Massachusetts and the handful of nations that allow gay couples to wed, including Canada.RELATED: Today we may finally see the leadership issue in the New York Senate resolved.
The unanimous ruling by the Appellate Division in Brooklyn is the second in a year to include gay couples in the state's tradition of recognizing marriages performed elsewhere even if the marriages could not be legally performed here. In February, an appeals court in Rochester ruled that Monroe County must provide health benefits to the woman, a female county worker married in Canada. "Marriage has come to New York for same-sex couples," said Susan Sommer, senior counsel with Lambda Legal, a gay rights group in New York City that defended Spano's order against the four Westchester residents who filed it. She said the next step is for the state "to allow same sex couples to marry here at home instead of having to travel to a foreign country or another state."
Labels: "celibacy", Lambda Legal, marriage equality, New York state
Someone claiming to be from the Asta La Vista hacking group has taken down Pam House's Blend and several other liberal blogs. Via Pam: "I just found out Soapblox.net, the service that hosts many of the state blogs, has been hacked. Pam's House Blend, RadicalRuss.net, American Liberalism, BeThink.org are some of the sites affected. I haven't gone down the whole Soapblox blogroll yet, so far it seems the state blogs were not affected; I assume the hack is restricted to only one server."
Fucking hell. Let's hope Pam Spaulding can restore her five years of content.(+) SoapBlox is Dead
by: pacified
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January 07, 2009 at 08:15:46 MST
It was a good ride, but it's over.Thanks for all the fish.
All these hackers messing with our stuff, and we here at SoapBlox have no clue what to do. We don't have enough knowledge, time, money, or care to fix it.
So I hope the Hackers are happy.
If you want the data from your blog, we will get it. But we are not going to try and restore anything.
Consider this the "We're Out of Business" post.
Most of the servers have been taken off line because they were being used to hack and exploit other websites. The hackers install this crap on servers after they get in. SoapBlox's ISP then takes the servers off line.
We do not know when they will come back online.
We do not know if they will come back online.
Labels: "celibacy", hacking, internet, Pam Spaulding
Via Dan Savage:According to the Seattle Times, the FBI is investigating.Eleven gay bars in Seattle received letters today addressed to the "Owner/Manager" from someone claiming to be in the possession of ricin, a deadly poison. "Your establishment has been targeted," the letter begins. "I have in my possession approximately 67 grams of ricin with which I will indiscriminately target at least five of your clients."
"I felt sick when I read it," said Carla, the owner/manager of Re-bar. "It's so vile. It's just hatred. It made me worry for all the other bars, and for my bartenders, and our clientele."
According to the CDC's website, someone who has ingested "a significant amount" will develop vomiting and diarrhea within the first 6-12 hours; other symptoms of ricin poisoning include hallucinations, seizures, and blood in the urine. There is no antidote for ricin but ricin exposure is not invariably fatal.
"I just had the police come pick [the letter] up," said Keith Christensen, the manager of the Eagle, when reached by phone. Christensen had already heard about the letter from other bar owners and managers, and so he didn't open it. "It's probably nothing," Christensen added, "but the economy is really screwing all the bars right now, and the last thing we need is something ramping up the not-go-out mode people seem to be in right now. It's really freaky that someone would do something like this at a time like this."
Christensen says he's posted signs at the Eagle advising patrons not to leave their drinks unattended. "The police have already come and gone," said Roland, the manager at Madison Pub. "They collected the letter and that's about it. I don't think it's anything to worry about it." Roland admitted to being unnerved by the letter at first. "But after the initial 'what?', it's like whatever."
A letter also arrived in The Stranger's offices, addressed to the attention of "Obituaries." The letter's author said the paper should "be prepared to announce the deaths of approximately 55 individuals all of whom were patrons of the following establishments on a Saturday in January." The listed bars are: the Elite, Neighbours, Wild Rose, the Cuff, Purr, the Eagle, R Place, Re-bar, CC's, Madison Pub, and the Crescent. "I could take this moment to launch into a diatribe about my indignation towards the gay community," the letter concludes, "however, I think the deaths will speak for themselves."
Alison, Luying, and Tippett, local promoters and DJs who do nights at various bars around town, came up with the idea of organizing a pub crawl for this Friday night to show support for the bars that were threatened. Carla at Re-bar added that, as distressing as the letter was, she was pleased with the response from the community. "Everyone is calling each other, everyone's got each other's backs."
Labels: "celibacy", nightlife, Seattle, terrorism, Washington state
Labels: "celibacy", #1 This Week, Madonna
