Saturday, August 16, 2008

Ricky Loved Madonna

As longtime readers know, there are a handful of short stories from my archives that I repost annually. Today is Madonna's 50th birthday and this story makes its third appearance in memory of a departed friend.

Ricky Loved Madonna

Today is August 16th. It's Madonna's 48th birthday. That's not something of which I'd ordinarily make note.........

Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a job that I would hold for seven years after having spent a few years after college drifting around bartending, waitering, and DJ'ing. After burning through three terrible DJ gigs in about a year, I took the management position with AMC almost in desperation, happy to finally have a regular paycheck. I bought my first brand new car. I had several dozen underlings. I had a business card. I felt like a grown-up, almost.

Twenty years ago today, it was a Saturday. As the assistant manager, I had to be at the theatre at 10am, even though I had closed the midnight shows the night before, not getting home until almost 4am. I stumbled through the still-unfamiliar opening procedures. My mind was on Ricky. I took the cash drawers out to the concession stand and the box office and turned on the air conditioners and lights in all the auditoriums. The first movie, a Disney cartoon, started at 11:30am and we had hundreds of people in front of the box office before I even rolled up the mall gates.

Twenty years ago today, the night before was a Friday. It was the opening night of the remake of The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum. My six-plex was jamming. The Fly sold out at every show, driving the overflow audiences into Top Gun and Aliens, which were still doing decent business on their own. All six auditoriums sold out by 8pm and I rushed to get that show's money counted before the first of the auditoriums began to let out and we had to start the process all over again. I pushed into the counting room inside the manager's office and dumped several thousand in $20's onto the countertop. The intercom buzzed.

"Mr. J., there's a man here to see you."

In the lobby was my friend Todd. "Joe, I'm on my way to see Ricky. Can you come? He's worse."

I looked out into the mall where hundreds of teenagers milled around in front of closed storefronts. The Interstate Mall was on its last legs. All that was left was the theatre, a pinball arcade, an adult novelty shop, and the driver's license bureau, which was closed at that hour. The teenagers roamed the broad unswept avenue of the mall in swirling, shrieking packs, anxious for the late show to begin.

I shook my head. "Todd, I'm the only one here. I have the late show and then the midnights. The last movie doesn't let out until almost 3am. I have to lock up." Todd nodded and made a movement like he was going to hug me, then realized that a dozen of my employees were watching. Awkwardly, he stuck out his hand, as if that's what he'd intended all along. I shook it and he left. I had never shaken Todd's hand before.

Twenty years ago today, one week earlier, Ricky went into the hospital. He'd had a seizure on the bathroom floor of his sister's condo. Todd and I went to the hospital the next day and found him lying unconscious in his bed, unattended, in a pool of feces. Todd staggered into the hallway and tried to control his retching while I looked for a nurse. At the nurses' station, the stout Jamaican woman behind the counter nodded curtly but didn't get out of her chair when I asked that Ricky receive some attention. I went back to find Todd sitting out in the lounge, smoking.

"Joe, I can't be here. I'm freaking out. Do you know we walked right in there without a mask on?"

"I think the mask is more for him than us....so if..."

"I have to go."

We stopped at the Burger King a few blocks away and washed our hands. Even though we hadn't touched Ricky or anything but the door of his hospital room, we scrubbed the front and backs of our hands like we'd seen surgeons do on television.

Twenty years ago today, two weeks earlier, Todd and I had dropped in at Ricky's sister's condo. Ricky had been forced to move in with her. He'd lost his job at the giant hotel near Disney, where he'd been training to be a pastry chef. For a long time, he'd managed to keep his illness a secret, wearing long shirts even in the hot kitchen, so that nobody saw the lesions that were growing inexorably from his wrists to his elbows. A lesion appeared on the back of his hand and that one he covered with make-up, but when a lesion appeared right on the tip of his nose, the head chef and head of human resources had called him in on his day off to fire him. Surely he understood, they told him, that they couldn't have him handling food.

When Ricky's sister opened the door of her condo, she made a face. "He's not feeling well." She'd already made it clear to Todd on his previous visit that she did not like her brother's "friends". Todd said quickly, "Oh, well, we just wanted to drop off a present for him." I had Madonna's latest release, True Blue, on CD in a sparkly bag. We knew that he'd gotten the vinyl album earlier in the summer, but since he was such a big fan, we knew he'd like to have the CD version too.

His sister led us into the bedroom where we found Ricky watching television. He was cranky and inattentive to us, but momentarily brightened when we gave him the CD. He examined the cover. "It's the same as the album, just smaller." He didn't have a player, hardly anyone did yet, so he laid the longbox reverently on his nightstand, propped against the lamp. His sister hovered in the doorway smoking, anxious for our departure, and we soon obliged her.

Twenty years ago today, three months earlier, I met Ricky for the first time at a party thrown by Todd. I'd heard from Todd that Ricky was "sick", but he seemed fine to me. We stood outside on the patio and watched guys jumping into the pool.

Ricky said, "So what do you do, Joe?"

I said, "Well I just started working for AMC Theatres."

Ricky screamed a little bit. "Which ONE?"

I stepped back. "Interstate Six, why?"

"Because I am in there ALL the time. I saw At Close Range about five times just to hear Madonna's song in it!"

"She wasn't in the movie, was she?"

"No, but I'm just a freak for her." He paused, then added dramatically, "We have the same birthday!"

"Oh....really." I began to look around for Todd.

Ricky began to get very animated. "Yes. Same day, same year. I was born exactly at midnight and my mother always said I could have August 15th or August 16th for my birthday. It was my choice and for the longest time I had it on August 15th cuz that's Julia Child's birthday and she's a chef and I'm a chef and she was like, my idol when I was little. Such a fag, right? Anyway, when Madonna came out and I found out her birthday, I was all...that's IT. I'm August 16th from now on!"

Ricky continued professing his undying love for Madonna until I was finally able to make a graceful escape. Later, Todd told me that Ricky had dressed as Madonna for the previous Halloween and belonged to her mail-order fan club and we laughed a little bit at his adorably nutty fandom.

Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, was a Saturday. The theatre had brisk business for the morning show, selling out the Disney movie. After all the houses were rolling, I pulled the money from the box office and sat alone in the office to count it. I turned on the radio so I could hear Casey Kasem counting down the Top 40.

Todd called. "Well, the hospital just told me Ricky died around midnight last night."

"Oh, no. Did you get in to see him...before.....?"

"No, his sister and mother were there, so I just left without going in."

"Right." That's how it usually went back then.

Todd hung up and I sat there finishing up my money counting. I didn't know how to feel. I really couldn't call Ricky a friend. I had to count and recount the money several times. I kept losing my place. Then I heard Casey Kasem say, "Hitting number one today is Madonna's Papa Don't Preach."

I called Todd back. "So, did they give you a time of death for Ricky?"

"Yeah, midnight."

"Right, but is that today or yesterday?"

"What?"

"Well, today is his birthday and it's Madonna's birthday and I just heard that she's number one today...and.....it would be, you know, sorta nice if it was today."

"What the fuck is nice about dying on your BIRTHDAY?"

We never talked about it again. I never did find out what day was listed for Ricky's death. As the years went on and Madonna's fame increased, the press began to note her birthday. And ever since that started, I think of Ricky on August 16th. I never knew Ricky's last name. He wasn't a close friend. But he has stuck with me over these two decades.

I know that writing these stories about dead people is rather maudlin. Melodramatic. In a way, a story about a stranger's death is always going to feel melodramatic, I suppose. I've written stories like this a half dozen times over the two years of this blog's existence, and I've got many more, more sad stories still untold. I think I get feeling scared that if I don't get the story out there, I'll forget it. Forget how it happened. Forget the person.

Twenty years ago today, Ricky, aged 28, died on his birthday. I will always hope that it was his August 16th birthday. Ricky loved Madonna.
.

Labels: , , ,


Friday, August 15, 2008

Broadway Friday

-Marni Raab takes over for Jennifer Hope Wills as Christine in Phantom Of The Opera, beginning August 20th. Wills is going on maternity leave and is expected to return to the show next June.

- Casting has been announced for 13, A New Musical, set to begin previews on September 16th. The show tells the story of a 13 year-old NYC boy who moves to Indiana and tries to fit in with the "in-crowd."

- New father Clay Aiken returns to Spamalot on September 19th.

- Cheap things to do in NYC including registering for the nightly Broadway ticket lottery which can win you front row seats for as low as $22. Enter at each participating box office for that show only. Lots of other free and cheap entertainment is here.

- Musical A Tale Of Two Cities begins previews on Tuesday, August 19th. Advance word is very good.

-Off-Off-Broadway:
Internationally acclaimed performance artist Karen Finley honors the 7th Anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center with an encore engagement of her critically acclaimed piece MAKE LOVE. This cabaret-driven, lounge-style act co-starring drag performer and artist Chris Tanner, pianist Lance Cruce, and a rotating roster of Liza Minnelli impersonators will run September 10 & 11 at The Cutting Room. It will be updated and slightly modified to reflect current events.

In MAKE LOVE, Finley channels Liza Minnelli in song, dance, glamour and glitter. Liza's tragicomic life is the backdrop as one New Yorker grasps to make sense of post-9/11 America. The "Divaness" of Liza as an icon and symbol of New York becomes the place to throw pathos, hilarity, mockery and taboos. With piano, torch singing and Karen Finley as the narrator, MAKE LOVE is a complex amalgam of humor, pain and compassion.
Karen Finley suggests coming to the show as your own "inner Liza."

Labels:


Gotham Tornado Watch

It's dark and scary outside. Tornado warnings for most of the city. It can happen here, there was a tornado in Brooklyn last year.

Labels: ,


"Hillary Now" Gets Protest Permit For DNC

Longtime South Florida AIDS and LGBT activist Bob Kunst, the founder of angry Clinton supporter group Hillary Now, has announced that his group has obtained a permit to protest Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Hillary Now plans to urge attendees to support John McCain. The permit notes that 100 members of Hillary Now will be allowed onto the "designated parade route." Parade? There's a parade?

Kunst has been a political gadfly in South Florida for as long as I can remember. He founded the anti-Falwell group Oral Majority and in 1982 ran for governor against Democrat Bob Graham because of the governor's policy of spraying poison on marijuana fields, getting 75,000 votes. Four years later he ran against Graham for the U.S. Senate, getting 150,000 votes.

This latest move is a disappointment, but nothing Bob Kunst does anymore surprises me. Back in the day in Florida, he was kind of my hero.

Labels: , , ,


NYFD Calendar Returns (Unofficially)

OK, this is confusing. Remember this time last year when the New York Fire Department swore they'd never do another calendar after one of their firefighters was found have appeared in an episode of Guys Gone Wild? Even though the calendar raised over $150K for fire education and safety, showing your substantial fire hose was apparently verboten.

Well, there is a 2009 calendar after all, but I guess this one is "unofficial" even though it features actual NYFD hotties. Whatevs, enjoy and purchase here. What, you don't enjoy the objectification of public servants? Why do you hate America?

Labels: , ,


Baracky II


The last few months in a hilarious nutshell. Very clever.

(Via - Andrew Sullivan)

Labels: , ,


Madonna: I'm Not 50, I'm 36

Madonna would like everybody to know that according to the Kabbalah priests she hired to calculate her age by "channeling her spirit", tomorrow will only be her 36th birthday, not her 50th. Friends, employees, and acolytes have been ordered NOT to mention the five-oh number tomorrow. Kabbalah nudniks aside, I like the concept of a spiritual age, some people do act younger or older than they are.

Labels: ,


Lawrence King's Parents Sue School, Claim Dress Code Was Not Enforced

The parents of murdered gay teen Lawrence King have sued the school district and Ventura Country, claiming that the school's failure to force King to dress like a boy led to his killing.
The boy's parents, Dawn and Gregory King, along with his younger brother, Rocky King, are seeking unspecified damages related to the fatal shooting of the 15-year-old boy as he sat in English class at E.O. Green School in Oxnard on Feb. 12.

To protect their rights to sue, plaintiffs must file claims against public agencies for injury, death or property damage within six months. The claims were received last Friday, a few days before the six-month mark.

King's father declined comment Thursday, and family attorney Steve Pell did not return a call seeking comment. Hueneme Superintendent Jerry Dannenberg said he had informed the school board Wednesday that the complaint had been filed. Officials have turned the matter over to a self-funding insurance authority to consider.

"We were anticipating some type of claim to be filed," the superintendent said. The county's risk manager, Chuck Pode, said he expected to reject the claim. King was a ward of the court and living at the Casa Pacifica shelter for abused, neglected and emotionally troubled children at the time of the shooting.

"From what I've seen of the contentions and immunities given to government employees, I expect this one would be rejected, and I'm sure Mr. Pell does, too," he said. Pode said he has more questions than answers about the two-page complaint. "Much of what they had to say is against the school district, and they kind of mix and match what county obligations are and the school district's are," he said.

In the claims, the Kings say school and county staff members failed to enforce the middle school's dress code. That put the feminine-dressing King at particular risk at a time when staff members knew he had "unique vulnerabilities" and was "susceptible to abuse" because of his perceived sexual orientation, the claim says.

The family says educators knew the boy was at risk because he had been subjected to death threats at Hathaway School, an elementary campus he attended in Oxnard. King had told friends he was gay, and he wore makeup, jewelry and high-heeled boots with his school uniform — something Dannenberg said the teen had the freedom to do under his First Amendment rights.

Assistant Principal Joy Epstein, the only person named in the complaint, is accused of encouraging the boy to wear "women's clothing, shoes and makeup." She created an environment of "perceived safety" for King when "in fact she could not and did not protect Larry from the threats and ultimate death," the claim says.
The school district has said that it would have been a violation of King's rights to force him to dress as a boy. However, dress codes require that students not dress in manner that will "cause a distraction" to other students. Last week King's killer, Brandon McInerney pled not guilty. Extensive coverage of the King story on JMG can be found here.

Labels: , , , , ,


Ellen & Portia To Wed This Weekend

Ellen Degeneres will marry her longtime girlfriend Portia de Rossi this weekend.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, 35, will wed this weekend in California, Usmagazine.com has learned exclusively. The pair are planning a small, intimate ceremony with only a few close friends and family.DeGeneres reflected on their upcoming nuptials at the Daytime Emmy Awards in Hollywood in June. "I think someday people will look back on this like women not having the right to vote and segregation and anything else that seems ridiculous that we don't all have the same rights," DeGeneres said.

Of the preparations, DeGeneres joked, "Planning a wedding is very stressful. It's crazy. My gardener is now invited." DeGeneres and de Rossi began dating in December 2004. "I feel like I found my perfect fit," DeGeneres said of de Rossi in an interview with the Advocate. "She’s taught me lessons about myself, and I feel like I’ve taught her," DeGeneres added.
Very good timing for the No On 8 campaign. This wedding will be on the cover of every celeb mag in the world next week.

Labels: , , ,


Gay Dad Gets Abducted Son Back In Israel

NYC gay dad Joshua Glazer was reunited with his son in Israel yesterday. Last week Glazer's husband fled to Israel with their adopted son in what was called the first ever case of international abduction by a married gay parent. Glazer's partner, Eric Hyett, had claimed that Glazer has been emotionally abusive.
A "removal team" made up of Israeli law enforcement and social workers escorted 23-month-old Jedidiah from a Jerusalem apartment where father Eric Hyett had holed up after spiriting the boy there from Manhattan.

"It's the most wonderful feeling in the world to have him back," Jedidiah's other dad, Joshua Glazer, said in a call from Israel after being reunited with his son. When Jedidiah saw him he started shouting, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! And he was kissing me and kissing everybody," Glazer said.

Glazer and Hyett had married in Massachusetts in 2004, but later broke up. The two became embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their adopted son. Hyett, arguing Glazer was emotionally abusive and trying to cut him out of the child's life, took Jedidiah and fled on Aug. 4 to Israel, where he has friends and family.

Glazer hired the International Investigative Group, which located Hyett within 20 hours of him landing in Israel, said agency president Daniel Ribacoff. Private investigators tailed Hyett for more than a week as he moved from Lapid, a small village near the West bank, to the Jerusalem apartment where officials found Jedidiah. Glazer and his mother flew to Israel, and Glazer was outside waiting in a car when authorities brought the child to him.
Back in NYC, Hyett was charged in absentia with custodial interference. All parties will remain in Israel until the jurisdiction of the case has been resolved.

Labels: , , , ,


Damage Control: Manhunt Chairman Jonathan Crutchley Resigns

Towleroad is reporting that Manhunt chairman Jonathan Crutchley has resigned from its board of directors. In a lengthy statement, Manhunt cofounder Larry Basile strenuously defends his decades-long record of personal gay activism and confirms Crutchley's resignation. Basile concludes with this:
"It should be known that Jonathan Crutchley's donation to McCain left the entire Board in disbelief. I am disappointed that we have lost some customers, and I understand the anger. It is too bad for the web site if we lose customers, but PLEASE never refer to me as a Republican. I consider it an offense. Earlier today, at the request of the Board, Jonathan has stepped down as Chairman."
As Andy Towle points out, it is quite likely that Crutchley remains a primary recipient of Manhunt's millions in annual revenue. (Coors, anyone?) And I find it rather unlikely that Manhunt was previously unaware of Crutchley's politics. Still, this is a positive move for the company.

Labels: , ,


Ben, The Two Of Us Need Look No More

Gas prices have sent subway ridership surging, and with those extra people comes extra litter, and therefore, extra rats. And according to amNY, the latest swarm doesn't appear much bothered by human presence.
"People have seen them sitting on benches," said Andrew Albert, an MTA board member and chair of the NYC Transit Riders Council, of the underground rodent problem. "From what riders have told us, they appear to be getting bolder.

Joel Sklar, a vice president at Assured Environments, one of the city's oldest and largest pest control companies, said he believes the subway rats have gotten more brazen for many reasons, including increased interaction with people. "Next thing you know the doors are going to open and one is going to come on the train with us," said Sklar, who commutes by subway to Lower Manhattan. "If it happened would it shock me? No."
The number of rats in NYC is estimated to be as many as 100 million. If only they ate pigeons. Rats don't bother me much. Since only the L train stations bother to tell you when the next train is arriving, you can always just watch the rats. When they take off, you know the train will come in about one minute.

Labels: , ,


Child, Julia Child

Newly released documents confirm that the late famed chef Julia Child worked as a low level spy during WWII, something she alluded to in her 2002 autobiography.
Before she mastered the secrets of French cooking, Julia Child was enrolled in the school of espionage. The famous chef let slip the story of her war-era spying in a 2002 autobiography, but the release of thousands of documents from the U.S. national archives on Thursday confirms her participation in a secret organization formed by President Franklin Roosevelt during the Second World War.

Hidden among the 750,000 classified pages released Thursday is a picture of the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives called the Office of Strategic Services. The archives released a list of 24,000 soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters and others who agreed to collect information in an effort to combat the Nazis.
Among the projects Child worked on was an attempt to develop a shark repellent that would keep sharks from exploding underwater mines. She also created a crème brûlée so delicious that Nazis would confess anything for a second helping.

Labels: ,


Ten Republicans Introduce Bullying Legislation In New York Senate

A nice surprise:
Ten New York Republican Senators have introduced legislation to the State Senate that will ban homophobic bullying in schools. The 'Safe Schools for All Children Bill' calls for training to help teachers identify and respond to bullying and places the responsibility of keeping tack on bullying cases with schools. The bill also includes protection for transgender students and teachers and a cyber-bullying stipulation. The bill would not grant parents and students the right to sue.
In February, openly gay legislator Daniel O' Donnell successfully sponsored similar legislation in the Assembly, the Dignity For All Students Act, which passed by a lopsided 130-9. If the Senate approves the anti-homophobic bullying bill just introduced, New York will become the 12th state to so protect its LGBT students.

Labels: , ,


Morning View - Lever House

Built in 1951, the Lever House is considered the "quintessential and seminal glass box International Style" skyscraper. So says Wikipedia. While I understand its historical place in architecture, I find the Lever House just as deadly dull as the bazillion copies that followed. After falling into disrepair towards the end of the last century, there was a major renovation beginning in 1998. Since then there have been sculptures from superstar artists on display in its courtyard (Koons, Haring), but right now the featured piece is a 15 foot Hello Kitty by Tom Sachs. For realz.

Labels:


Olympic Scandal: Chinese Gold Medal Gymnast Underage

Chinese gold medals won in women's gymnastics are coming under question as proof has emerged that star competitor He Kexin is only 14 years old. In 1997 the minimum age for competing was raised to 16.
Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of "10 big new stars" who made a splash at China's Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. In the final, "this little girl" pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, www.hb.xinhuanet.com

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.

If the age reported by Xinhua was correct, that would have meant He was too young to be on the Chinese team that beat the United States on Wednesday and clinched China's first women's team Olympic gold in gymnastics. He is also a favorite for gold in Monday's uneven bars final.Yang was also on Wednesday's winning team. Questions have also been raised about her age and that of a third team member, Jiang Yuyuan.

Another suspected underage gymnast, Yang Yilin, won the bronze medal today in the women's individual all-around. Americans Nastia Liuken and Shawn Johnson took gold and silver, respectively.

Go to Huffington Post for an exhaustive listing of documentation proving the cheating.

Labels: , , ,


Thursday, August 14, 2008

John McCain: Pro-Choice Veep? OK!
Pro-Gay Veep? NO WAY!

John McCain says it's OK for his veep to be pro-choice, like Tom Ridge, but not OK for him to be pro-gay, like Michael Bloomberg.
"I think it's a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a--albeit strong--but just it's a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far moreso than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues."
Don't you feel happy to know where you stand on John McCain's moral scale? How do the Log Cabinettes feel about their boy now? Remember their "secret" meeting with him? Remember how they defended his campaign's homphobic robo-calls in Florida? Nothing on their blog about this latest load of crap, of course.

UPDATE: Hoo boy. The Christian right is so not happy either.
McCain’s comments Wednesday to the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes that former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge’s pro-abortion rights views wouldn’t necessarily rule him out quickly found their way into the in-boxes of Christian conservatives. For those who have been anxiously awaiting McCain’s pick as a signal of his ideological intentions, there was deep concern that their worst fears about the Arizona senator may be realized.

“It absolutely floored me,” said Phil Burress, head of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values. “It would doom him in Ohio.” Burress emailed about a dozen “pro-family leaders” he knows outside Ohio and forwarded it to three McCain aides tasked with Christian conservative outreach. “That choice will end his bid for the presidency and spell defeat for other Republican candidates,” Burress wrote in the message.

Labels: , , , ,


McCainHunt

It's been 24 hours and so far not a peep about the McCain/Manhunt story in the MSM, despite the story headlining virtually all gay and progressive blogs and forums. I did find mention in Ben Smith's column at Politico.com, but nothing from traditional media so far.

(Image Via - Michelangelo Signorile)

Labels: , ,


Obama Caves, Hillary To Be On Ballot

Hillary Clinton will be on the official nomination ballot at the Democratic National Convention.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name will be placed into nomination at the Democratic National Convention, a symbolic move approved by the Obama campaign in an effort to soothe a lingering rift with Clinton supporters.

The decision was reached this week, according to Democratic officials, and will be announced later today. It comes after long negotiations on both sides, with many backers of Mrs. Clinton vigorously pushing for her candidacy to be validated by giving her delegates the chance to support her through a roll call vote.

For Democrats inside the convention center in Denver, as well as the television audience at home, it could create some interesting moments. After the state-by-state roll is tallied, Mrs. Clinton is expected to turn over her cache of delegates to Senator Barack Obama.

So how will Mrs. Clinton, who is a superdelegate herself, vote? Associates say she will throw her lot behind Mr. Obama and ask her supporters to follow suit. To see if it unfolds as the Obama campaign hopes – free of acrimony – tune in on Wednesday, Aug. 27

Labels: , ,


Blackout: Five Year Anniversary

Five years ago today at 4:10PM, New York City lost power for 30 hours. After some mild panic in Midtown that the situation was terrorism-related, I went home to my then-apartment on Bleecker Street where my roommate and I sat on the fire escape and read by his leftover menorah candles. Days later we learned that apparently we were the only gays in town not dancing in the streets or enjoying giant impromptu sex parties in flashlight-lit bars. What did YOU do that night five years ago?

Labels:


Bigger Than Batman

Labels: ,


Arizona To Get World's First All Lesbian Housing Development

Travel company Olivia Cruises has begun taking deposits on the world's first all lesbian housing development in Tuscon, Arizona.
Olivia Communities will be a 334-unit resort-style living community in Tuscon, Ariz. Although anyone can purchase a home, the company is targeting lesbians. “My whole vision of this has always been about creating community and creating a place where we can not only be free… but also the kind of community where you’re really connected with the people there and feel comfortable and happy in your environment,” said Judy Dlugacz, president and founder of Olivia Companies.

What makes this community unique, Dlugacz said, will be the social aspect. Women from their 20s to their 80s have put down deposits on condos in the development, though the most women fall in the 55- to 70-year-old age group. Olivia plans to have a full-time events coordinator who will bring in live entertainment, including comedy events and film festivals, and who will coordinate tea dances and other parties. Group excursions will be arranged to nearby locations like Las Vegas and Mexico.
Forty deposits have been received and when the number reaches 400, construction will begin.

Labels: , , ,


A Message From Sally Kern


From Will Farrell's Funny Or Die. Some funny bits, but it goes on about two minutes too long. Good ending, though.

(Via - Dan Savage)

Labels: , , ,


Anti-Bayh Movement Grows

The number of progressives demanding that Barack Obama not choose Evan Bayh as running mate is growing, as many point out that Bayh was instrumental in building the Democratic consensus to support the war in Iraq.
Increasing speculation about the vice-presidential prospects of Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana is stirring strong interest among backers of Senator Barack Obama and not all of it is positive. Some prominent liberal bloggers have gotten behind an online push that amounts to a reverse draft of Mr. Bayh, a moderate Democrat who campaigned with Senator Barack Obama in Indiana last week and is widely viewed as a serious contender for the No. 2 slot on the Democratic ticket. An effort called “100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for V.P.” has been launched on Facebook, with its promoters encouraging people to weigh in against Mr. Bayh due to his initial strong support for granting President Bush the authority to take military action against Iraq.
From the "100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh" Facebook page:
Obama's judgment about the war was the central tenet of one of the two best arguments for his earning the Democratic nomination. His offering a break from Old Washington was the other. Choosing Evan Bayh, a career legacy politician who fell hook, line, and sinker for the administration's case for a disastrous war and dragged much of our party with him, would undermine both.

The Obama campaign will be deciding its VP in the next day or two - they may have already, but if they haven't, they are listening for feedback from people like us. This is a moment where we could really make a difference. Let's grow this group to 100,000 in a day and send a clear message to the Obama campaign that Evan Bayh is not the right choice for Vice President.
So far the Facebook page has less than 3000 members.

Labels: , ,


Twist And Shout

Performance artist Mini Karimi wants help:
On September 6th, I am staging a large performance art piece that requires 6-8 hundred people recreating the parade scene from Ferris Bueller at the Deitch Art Parade in Soho. I am recruiting secret agents in the audience of the parade to mimic the extras in the movie as my Ferris float approaches. In order to fully reproduce the spirit of the scene I will need at least 100 agents on each block of the parade to get the Ferris joy-ball rolling.
Contact her here if you're interested.

Labels: ,


Open Thread Thursday

Good news only. Brag, boast.

Labels:


New Obama Ad: Middle Class First


About 28 seconds of attacking McCain, then the tag line. "Barack Obama: the middle class first." Is it just me, or is there a new ad from both sides about every 12 hours?

Labels: ,


Morning View - Gayffiti

At 21st Street and 11th Avenue, I noticed some gay graffiti at the top of the building that housed the previous incarnation of the NYC Eagle, which leatherated on that corner for 30 years, 1970-2000.

Labels:


Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Colorado's Jared Polis: Our Third Openly Gay Member Of Congress?

Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin might be getting some company in Congress.
Entrepreneur Jared Polis, the first openly gay candidate for Congress from Colorado, won the 2nd Congressional District's Democratic primary on Tuesday night. The race was defined by record- breaking campaign funding and vitriolic attacks in its waning days. "This election cycle, a lot of barriers are being broken," Polis said. "At the congressional level, we are showing that people are willing to elect a candidate based on their values and ideas and not their sexual orientation."

With 267 of 457 precincts reporting, Polis had 43 percent of the vote. Fitz-Gerald had 39 percent. Longtime conservationist Will Shafroth trailed with 19 percent. Polis is a favorite to succeed U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, because the seat is considered safe for Democrats. Udall is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

Cold, hard cash has been a hot topic in the race since Polis, an Internet millionaire, tapped his personal wealth to fund his campaign. At $5.3 million at last count, Polis easily demolished previous Colorado records for self-funding a race. Furthermore, Polis, Shafroth and Fitz-Gerald each topped $1 million in outside contributions, making the three-way race the most expensive primary in the nation.
Polis is the founder of online greeting card company BlueMountain.com, which he sold to Excite in 1999 for $910M.

Labels: , ,


BREAKING: Arkansas Democratic Chairman Shot At Little Rock Headquarters

Arkansas Democratic Chairman Bill Gwatney was shot today in the party's Little Rock offices and is in critical condition.
A gunman entered the Arkansas Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday and shot the party chairman, who was hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said. The gunman asked to speak to the party chairman, Bill Gwatney, and fired three shots at the office near the state Capitol.

"He came in and went into this office and started shooting," police Lt. Terry Hastings told reporters near the party headquarters. Gwatney, a former legislator, was in critical condition, Hastings said. Party officials confirmed the victim was Gwatney. The suspect was chased into Grant County, south of Little Rock, and apprehended after being shot, the police spokesman said. The suspect's condition and motive were not known.
Gwatney owns several car dealerships in Little Rock and there is speculation that the shooter may have been a disgruntled customer. Others fear that this shooting may be similar to last month's church shooting in Knoxville, Tennessee.

UPDATE: Gwatney has died. He was slated to be a superdelegate at the DNC.

Labels: , ,


Morel & Ono Notch Dance #1

Since I now follow Rich Morel's chart successes the way I used to track Donna Summer's, I must mention that this week Morel has his seventh #1 Billboard dance hit with his remix of Yoko Ono's Give Peace A Chance. At 75 years old, Ono is the oldest person to have a dance chart number one, of which this latest is her fourth. A couple of months ago Morel also hit #1 with his remix and co-production of Cyndi Lauper's Same Old Fucking Story. Looks like Lauper is also about to get another chart topper from her excellent full-length, Bring Ya To Tha' Brink.

RECOMMENDED: Listen to Rich Morel's latest podcast, which includes Give Peace A Chance.

Labels: , , ,


Manhunt Founder Donates Max To McCain

Hot on the heels of last week's evisceration of Manhunt in Out Magazine's article Is Manhunt Destroying Gay Culture?, comes the revelation at Towleroad that Manhunt cofounder Jonathan Crutchley has donated the personal maximum of $2300 to John McCain's presidential campaign.

Via Towleroad comes this exchange between Crutchley and a commenter on Online Personal Watch:Andy Towle: "It appears John McCain has accepted the maximum individual campaign donation from the owner of America's largest gay sex hook-up website."

Log in, get off, get betrayed.

Labels: , ,


Good News/Bad News For Gilead

It's a complicated turn of events for Gilead, the maker of HIV drug Viread. The 9th Circuit Court has reinstated a securities class action suit against the drug maker which claims that Gilead had misled investors about the demand for Viread.

The suit charges that Gilead fostered demand for Viread by using improper marketing such as "aggressively promoting off-label uses." Among the off-label uses were "marketing to patients co-infected with Hepatitis B." The suit (PDF) claims that 75% - 95% of Viread sales came from such off-label sales.

Little Viread is sold as a stand-alone drug today as it is most commonly prescribed as part of the combination pills Atripla and Truvada. However, the drug has been studied in recent years as a possible daily HIV preventive, with one AIDS activist even calling for it to be "coformulated with Viagra."

However, on the same day that the above lawsuit was green-lighted, comes word that the FDA actually HAS just approved Viread as a treatment for chronic Hepatitis B in the United States. The drug is already approved for such use in Europe. So Gilead wins by having one of the few drugs approved to treat Hep B, but loses for how they got to that approval. I think. Insiders?

Labels: , , ,


The "Some Of My Best Friends" Defense

Spanish basketballer Jose Calderon responds to yesterday's "Asian eyes" controversy:
Spanish basketball player Jose Calderon rejected international media accusations on Wednesday that slit-eyed gestures by his team at the Beijing Olympics were racist and said he had great respect for Asian people. Published pictures show the world champions dressed in Olympic kit standing on a basketball court marked with a Chinese dragon. All the players are pulling the skin back at the side of their eyes.

"I want to say that we have a great respect for the Orient and their peoples. Some of my best friends in Toronto are of Chinese origin," Calderon, who plays for Canada's Toronto Raptors team, said in a message posted on his website. "Whoever interprets something else from the photos has taken it completely the wrong way," said Calderon.

Spanish newspapers also hit back at suggestions the pictures were racist, saying the team had donated money to charities helping the poor in Africa. "To try and convert an affectionate gesture of a model group of sportsmen and women into racism is repugnant," said Jose Luis Martinez, columnist for the Marca sports newspaper in which the pictures first appeared.

Racism has blighted Spanish sport in the past. Some spectators targeted Britain's black Formula One motor racing driver Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona in February and racist chants directed at black soccer players have been a persistent problem.
From Calderon's site:From a commenter at Gawker: "He had me at 'oriental.'"

Labels: , , ,


O No

Oy vey. Some designer named Rick Husong is trying to promote an Obama "hand-signal", which he wants to turn into the "peace sign of our generation."
George Bush had his three-fingered W salute that supporters flashed when greeting him at presidential campaign events in 2000. And now, if a Los Angeles creative agency gets its way, Sen. Barack Obama will see fans meet him with his own salute like the one above. "Our goal is to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama's nomination speech holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a new direction for this country, a renewed hope, and acceptance of responsibility for our future," says Rick Husong, owner of The Loyalty Inc. Husong tells me that he got the idea after seeing the famous Obama-Progress poster by artist Shepherd Fairey.
Fortunately, a lot of people have some good sense about this double-dumbass idea.
Among the hundreds of comments posted on the Whispers site were those comparing it to a gang gesture, a Nazi salute, or worse. "This is how Sieg Heil got started. And, no I'm not saying Obama is Hitler. I just think people should be careful about slipping into a personality cult for a charismatic leader," wrote Jake of Tennessee.
Husong isn't bothered by naysayers and says that his site has had over 200K hits with the above artwork downloaded 7700 times. Which was probably all right-wingers tickled by the "asshole" imagery.

(Via - AmericaBlog)

Labels: ,


Christianists Call For End To PBS

Donald Wildmon, the founder and head of the American Family Association, is asking its members to petition Congress to end all funding for PBS. The AFA is pissed because of an upcoming PBS show, The Bible's Buried Secrets, which according to the AFA , contradicts long-held beliefs. From the AFA's "Action Alert":
Take Action

Sign the petition urging Congress to stop using tax dollars to fund PBS. Let PBS operate like every other non-commercial network, raising its own money from its viewers instead of using tax money.

Petition Text

TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

In light of PBS's decision to air "The Bible's Buried Secrets," I ask that you vote to stop funding PBS with tax dollars.

PBS is knowingly choosing to insult and attack Christianity by airing a program that declares the Bible "isn't true and a bunch of stories that never happened."

PBS should raise its own money. I should not be forced to help pay for its programs.

The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), probably the most liberal network in America, will present a program this fall that says the Old Testament is a bunch of made-up stories that never happened. "The Bible's Buried Secrets" says the Bible is not true. It is scheduled to air on November 18.

Archaeologist William Dever said: "...It's (The Bible's Buried Secrets) designed for intelligent people who are willing to change their mind. …it will give intelligent people who want to read the Bible in a modern way a chance. If we insist on reading the Bible literally, in 25 years, nobody will read it any longer."

Among highlights of "The Bible's Buried Secrets":

• The Old Testament was written in the sixth century BC and hundreds of authors contributed.
• Abraham, Sarah and their offspring didn't exist.
• There is no archaeological evidence of the Exodus.
• Monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years.
• The Israelites were actually Canaanites.
• The Israelites believed that God had a wife.

I have often said that PBS should not receive tax dollars. "The Bible's Buried Secrets" is simply one more reason Congress should stop supporting PBS with our tax dollars. Congress gives PBS hundreds of millions of tax dollars to help support the network.
There's a trailer for the show here on YouTube.

Labels: , , , , ,


NBC Plays "Ab Fab"

NBC has a rather homoerotic game running on its Olympics page in which readers are invited to guess which abs belong to which Olympic swimmer. Go to "Ab Fab: Guess The Swimmer" and see what you think.

Labels: , ,


NYC Hotel Rates Average $350/Night

Tourism to NYC isn't suffering too much in this economy, we're seeing just a slight dip in Broadway sales. But holy cow, room rates are averaging $350/night.
In May the average cost of a hotel room in New York climbed to $350 a night from $300 in May 2007, according to figures released yesterday by the official marketing and tourism organization for New York City, NYC & Company. A total of 2.05 million hotel room nights were sold in May, a slight increase from the 2 million sold in May of last year. The occupancy rate climbed to 90%, a 1% increase from the same period last year.

"All indicators are that the numbers are strong. We are not seeing a decrease in the number of visitors, and we may even see modest gains," a spokeswoman for NYC & Company, Tiffany Townsend, said yesterday. But there are also signs that the torrid pace of visitors passing through New York City may be slowing as the dollar appreciates against other foreign currencies.

NYC & Company previously projected that 12.5 million visitors would visit New York City between June and August, an increase of 500,000 visitors over the same period last year. That projection would not match the year-to-year increase of 1 million visitors who came to New York City in the first three months of 2008. Broadway attendance, another key barometer of tourism in the city, was down in May of this year, dropping to 1.18 million tickets sold from 1.24 million in May 2007.

Labels: ,


Morning View - Cornelius Vanderbilt

One of the neatest things about last week's Summer Streets event was finding previously unnoticed items like this statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt on the Grand Central Viaduct, which I've surely passed in a cab more than 500 times.

Vanderbilt bought the New York Central Railroad in 1867 and built the Grand Central Depot on 42nd Street in 1871. That station was later demolished and rebuilt as Grand Central Terminal, which is where this statue still stands.

Forbes calculates that in adjusted 2008 dollars, Cornelius Vanderbilt (who is Anderson Cooper's great-great-great-grandfather) is the tenth-wealthiest person who has ever lived in the world, with a peak wealth of $167 billion, putting him right behind Caesar Basil II of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire. (If you buy that such things can be calculated a thousand years later.) Another study places Vanderbilt at #3, behind John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, and just ahead of Bill Gates.

Labels:


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

New York Primary Deadline Is Friday, Register To Vote Online Via LGBT Center

This Friday, August 15th, is the deadline to register for New York's September 9th primary. The NYC Gay & Lesbian Community Center has a goal of registering 2000 new LGBT voters by then. You can register to vote online via their site.

All of New York's 29 seats in the House of Representatives are in contention, as are all 436 seats nationwide. Of New York's 29 Congressional districts, 25 incumbents are running to keep their seats, including my own Congressperson, the fabulous Carolyn Maloney.

BUT, three out of the four retiring New York Reps are Republican, including Staten Island's vile, anti-gay Vito "Family Values (With A Mistress And A Love Child)" Fossella, the only Republican representing NYC in Congress. THAT is why the NYS primary is important, my tender kittens. Staten Island homos, represent.

And lets not forget the 150 seats in the state Assembly or the 62 seats in the state Senate, all of which are up for grabs. Openly LGBT Assembly members Daniel O'Donnell, Deborah Glick, Matthew Titone, and (my own Assemblyman) Micah Kellner need your support.

As does Thomas Duane, the only openly gay (and openly HIV positive) member of the state Senate. Duane's district stretches down the west side of Manhattan from 85th Street to Canal Street and encompasses major gayborhoods Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and the East and West Village.

If you are not registered to vote in New York, please help the LGBT Center reach their goal.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Family Week Quandary In P-Town

Some business owners in Provincetown are unhappy with Family Week, the annual event that brings hundreds of gay families to town, saying that business in the bars and the higher end shops falls by as much as 50%. Next year Family Week organizers plan to push the event back to the first week of August, heightening fears of greater lost sales at guesthouses, clubs, and restaurants.
“Families with young children don’t do the same things on vacation as adults do,” said Todd Dever from Forbidden Fruit, 173 Commercial St. “In July and August we are shooting for certain figures each week. Family Week has tracked over my four seasons at half of what it should be.”

Dever said he feels a “horrible dilemma” between “doing the right thing” and encouraging families, particularly gay families, to come to Provincetown, and discouraging them because of the negative impact on sales. He suggested moving Family Week to either the week before or week after July 4th, traditionally a slower period that could benefit from an influx of visitors.

However, Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Equality Council, the organizers of Family Week, said many children are still in school the last week in June, and the week after July 4th would conflict with the annual “R” Family Vacation summer cruise, offered to gay families by Rosie O’Donnell’s company. Many of the families that come to Family Week also go on the cruise, Chrisler said. In addition, Family Equality Council provides the educational seminars on the “R” Family Vacation cruises and staff are too busy that week to produce two events, she said.
Some P-Town regulars tend to avoid visiting during Family Week, saying they enjoy the resort town specifically because of its all-gay, all-adult atmosphere. Family Week attendees counter that they do indeed eat out and patronize local businesses and that nobody should be told when they can or cannot visit.

I know it's just once a year, but that one week can make or break a joint in a town that has such a short season. Businesses should suck it up and look for ways to serve the gay families with something that appeals to them. The money's right there on the table, just find a way to make it worth parting with. That said, I'm trying to think what the bars and clubs could do in that regard. Toddler T-Dance?

Labels: ,


Labor Ponies Up To Fight Prop 8

Big money rolled in from labor organizations at Saturday's Equality California event in Los Angeles. The Service Employees International Union presented a $500K check and the California Teacher's Association kicked in $250K. Another $25K came from AT&T. A total of $2M was raised, much of which will be used to fund the No On 8 campaign.

Equality California's Geoff Kors:
“We are thrilled with the generous outpouring of support we’ve received to fight Proposition 8 and applaud our labor partners and business allies for stepping up to say it’s not OK to treat any Californians differently under the laws of our state,” said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors.

“It is an honor to have the leadership of SEIU California, the California Teacher’s Association and AT&T behind us as we work to defeat this divisive initiative that would deny same-gender couples the respect and dignity of marriage,” Kors said.

“Thanks to this support, the Los Angeles event was by far the largest and most successful fundraiser EQCA has hosted in its history – and it may be one of the most successful fundraising events for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the history of our state.”
(Via - WeHo News)

Labels: , ,


Worst Person In The World: Stuart Shepard

Last week I told you about Focus On The Family Anus spokespig Stuart Shepard asking for Christians to pray for rain at Barack Obama's outdoor speech at the DNC. Last night Keith Olbermann tapped Shepard as the "Worst Person In The World."

UPDATE: Good As You reports that Focus On The Family has pulled Shepard's video. Out of shame, we can only hope. But Good As You saved their own copy of the clip, so you can see it here.

Labels: , , , , ,


A Gay Revolution (But Not The Good Kind)

Famed science fiction writer Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) is so outraged about gay marriage, he wants to overthrow the government. From his op-ed piece in the Mormon Times:
If America becomes a place where our children are taken from us by law and forced to attend schools where they are taught that cohabitation is as good as marriage, that motherhood doesn't require a husband or father, and that homosexuality is as valid a choice as heterosexuality for their future lives, then why in the world should married people continue to accept the authority of such a government?

What these dictator-judges do not seem to understand is that their authority extends only as far as people choose to obey them.

How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.
Cracked blogger Michael Swain responds:
There is no question, absolutely none at all, that you are fighting a battle you can’t win. In a hundred years, flamboyant gay guys will be getting married in fabulous dresses on your grave, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.

But worse, when that day finally comes, you will be classed with all those others who stood in the way of expanding rights and humanity: the Ku Klux Klan, Apartheid, the anonymous boardroom of fat men arguing about which secretary has the best ass. And if there’s any justice, even though I’ve no doubt you could fire off a response to this post that would be perfectly eloquent and arresting (in fact, you totally should…my hits would go through the roof), your work will be read only as a curiosity, a way to peek into the mind of a caveman. Or else by lovers of great fiction, who will have to read them, set them down, shrug, and say “well, that was super good, even if the guy was a Neanderthal Nazi.”
And my well-worn paperback of Ender's Game goes kerplunk into the trash.

Labels: , ,


BREAKING: Air Is Free

Huffing is no longer for bored teenaged suburbanites. Canned oxygen is reportedly "flying off the shelves" of NYC's drugstores. At $16 a pop.
With 1 in 10 Americans is chronically sleep deprived people are looking for anything to boost their energy. First there were Red Bull and double espressos, but now comes the latest -- canned oxygen!

It's the latest way to boost your energy. it claims to do everything from helping your workout to boosting your memory, relieving stress to curing a hangover. Kevin DelGaudio, the inventor of instant oxygen, turned to oxygen for his own energy needs. "You know you start falling asleep at the wheel a couple of intakes of ox and I'm wide awake," DelGaudio said.

It's all over the Web and around the world. People looking to reverse the effects of pollution and inject more energy into their lives are turning to oxygen, whether bought at a bar or now, in a can. Instant Oxygen, which claims to be 99 percent pure oxygen, is sold at the pharmacy counter of Duane Reade stores.
Doctors say the effect is mainly psychological. "Inventor" Kevin DelGuardio says the effect is...oh wait, he's in line at Citibank with a bucket of rubes' money.

Labels: ,


PlanetOut Gets NASDAQ Warning

NASDAQ has issued a warning to PlanetOut that the company has not maintained the required $5M minimum value of publicly held shares and may be delisted from the exchange. The company has until October 30th to up its value. Earlier this year PlanetOut sold their magazine division (Out, Advocate) to Regent Releasing, the owners of gay cable network Here! TV. It is thought that the greatest asset remaining at PlanetOut is its ownership of the domain Gay.com.

Labels: ,


The Master Of Gay Divorce

Up in Massachusetts, the gay divorce industry is in high gear.
Sometimes the joy of gay marriage is followed by the pain of gay divorce, but Peter Zupcofska is there to help. In Boston, he has become known as "the master of gay divorce." And for a $25,000 retainer, he can lead couples through the intricacies of how to best break up. Zupcofska said divorces present gay couples with a new opportunity "to make things right" when a relationship ends. "Divorce is a critical part of marriage," he said.

Gay divorces are bringing many new wrinkles to the field of family law, raising questions that are sure to be litigated for years to come. While no one tracks how many gay couples have divorced in Massachusetts, attorneys in the Boston area are competing for cases in the budding cottage industry.

The cases are complicated because of vast differences in state and federal law. In short, federal law trumps state law and can eliminate benefits that a state might want to extend. Tax issues are a good example. Gay marriages are not recognized by the Internal Revenue Service, meaning spouses cannot take advantage of federal tax breaks, including the basic deduction of a dependent.

Gay spouses are eligible for alimony and child support, but such payments cannot be deducted from federal taxes. Gay spouses must file federal tax returns as individuals, and only one of them can claim a child as a dependent. And if a couple splits and one spouse wants to transfer a house to the other, it can result in a higher federal tax that wouldn't apply to divorcing heterosexual couples.

"If Peter were married to Paula, there would be no tax consequences," Zupcofska said. "With Peter married to Paul, you have a capital gains tax. And the capital gains tax is 15 percent." (That would result in a $75,000 tax on a $500,000 gain.)

Pension issues also get messy. Because Massachusetts recognizes gay marriages, state workers can get their spouses covered by pensions. But gay federal employees aren't eligible for Social Security under their partner's plan, as heterosexual couples are. And any other retirement plan governed by federal law does not have to recognize a gay spouse.

Zupcofska, who is gay and married, doesn't like to leave things to chance: He has a prenuptial agreement with his spouse, and he advises his clients to do the same. Zupcofska said the poorer spouse can suffer when a marriage breaks up if the issues aren't ironed out in advance. Without a prenuptial agreement, he said, the primary breadwinner can walk away with more money in his pocket, even if it has been a long-term relationship of 20 years or more.
(Via - Sacramento Bee)

DISCLOSURE: Peter Zupcofska and his husband Bob are friends of mine through the Farmboyz, who've known them for decades. Father Tony was Peter's best man at their 2004 wedding. Yesterday's Morning View was taken from Peter and Bob's new pied-a-terre in Hell's Kitchen.

Labels: , , ,