Evening View - SuperTarget

On what is supposed to be one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, a few blocks from my mother's house in Orlando I found this brand new and massive SuperTarget nearly deserted, with only two of two dozen checkout lanes open.

RELATED: This SuperTarget is in a development cringingly called "SoDO", the "South of Downtown Orlando" area. Eeesh.

Xmas In Central Florida

I think this video pretty much says it all - a prog-rock version of O' Little Town Of Bethlehem set to 40,000 computerized Xmas lights. More videos here, including a freestyle version of Jingle Bell Rock.

The Ehrenstein Effect

The shockwaves of writer (and frequent JMG commenter) David Ehrenstein's Magic Negro column continue to reverberate, this time causing a little bit of Christmas trouble for a Republican National Committee candidate.

RNC candidate Chip Saltsman’s Christmas greeting to committee members includes a music CD with lyrics from a song called “Barack the Magic Negro,” first played on Rush Limbaugh’s popular radio show. Saltsman, a personal friend of conservative satirist Paul Shanklin, sent a 41-track CD along with a note to national committee members. “I look forward to working together in the New Year,” Saltsman wrote. “Please enjoy the enclosed CD by my friend Paul Shanklin of the Rush Limbaugh Show.” The CD, called “We Hate the USA,” lampoons liberals with such songs as “John Edwards’ Poverty Tour,” “Wright place, wrong pastor,” “Love Client #9,” “Ivory and Ebony” and “The Star Spanglish banner.” Several of the track titles, including “Barack the Magic Negro,” are written in bold font.

The song, which debuted on Limbaugh’s show in late March 2007, latches onto an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times of the same title. That column, penned by cultural critic David Ehrenstein, argued that Obama could serve as a balm to whites who felt guilty about past treatment of African Americans. Limbaugh first highlighted the column the day it ran, according to a contemporary report by Media Matters, the liberal watchdog agency. Media Matters reported Limbaugh repeated the phrase more than two dozen times the day the column ran.

From Ehrenstein's original column:

"As every carbon-based life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.

"But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the 'Magic Negro.' The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro .

He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.

As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic — embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that's not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is "Magic."

I excerpted Ehrenstein's essay here on JMG in January, almost a year after it was first published. Read reactions here.

Morning View - Breakfast

When everything in Grandma's kitchen is set up to serve 5 year-olds, you eat the mini-waffles and shut up about it.

HomoQuotable - Rex Wockner

"Some bloggers and others have suggested that the 'Stonewall 2.0' phenomenon is petering out. 'Join the (diminishing) Impact,' said Peter Staley. Dan Savage jumped in saying Join The Impact's followup events to Nov. 15th's massive national demos have been weak. Everyone involved in the Stonewall 2.0 phenomenon should read both critiques (click the bolded names above). But Stonewall 2.0 isn't fizzling...

"That's because Stonewall 2.0 already happened. Stonewall itself lasted three nights in 1969, but it set the stage for much that came after it. Stonewall 2.0 lasted, at minimum, 11 days -- and, I suggest, set the stage for much that will come after it.

"In David Carter's book Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, one Michael Fader told Carter: "We all had a collective feeling like we'd had enough of this kind of shit. ... Everyone in the crowd felt that we were never going to go back. It was like the last straw. It was time to reclaim something that had always been taken from us. ... There was something in the air, freedom a long time overdue, and we're going to fight for it. It took different forms, but the bottom line was, we weren't going to go away. And we didn't."

"Sound familiar?

"Stonewall 2.0 may or may not be inextricably wed to Join The Impact, the viral entity that coordinated the massive, 300-city, 50-state demos on Nov. 15, but what happened from Nov. 5 to Nov. 15 in California and across the country indisputably fired up a new generation of activists and lit a fire under complacent, comfortable older generations. It was a 2.0 moment -- different from the gay marches on Washington, the AB 101 protests, the White Night Riots and other post-Stonewall historical moments precisely because it took place from coast to coast and border to border, and because the method by which it was organized (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, e-mail, text-messaging) can be reactivated in minutes whenever the moment strikes." - Veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner, writing on his blog. Read the entire piece.

Obama: Most Admired American

A Gallup poll shows Barack Obama as the most admired living American man. Hillary Clinton is the most admired living woman.

A month before his inauguration, Americans choose Barack Obama as the man they admire most in the world, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. It's the first time a president-elect has topped the annual survey in more than a half-century. President Bush falls to a distant second after seven years as the most-admired man.

Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the list of most-admired woman, a spot she's held for 13 of the past 16 years — as first lady, then New York senator and now Obama's designate for secretary of State. A newcomer is second: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who wasn't well-known nationally until Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate in August. The findings, a snapshot of public opinion at the end of a tumultuous year, reflect soaring expectations for an incoming president who will take over daunting economic challenges on Jan. 20.

Gallup has been asking the question since 1948. The last president-elect to top the poll was Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

Daily Ungrumble

Gonna hit 80 today.

Eartha Kitt, 81

Eartha Kitt, the bawdy, sexy, sultry performer whose name will forever live in the pantheon of gay icons, died today at 81.

Actress and "Santa Baby" singer Eartha Kitt has died. Kitt, 81, died Thursday in New York City, her publicist confirmed to CNN, after being treated there for colon cancer. Her daughter Kitt Shapiro was by her side. Known primarily for singing in her distinctively raspy voice and purring like a cat as Catwoman on the television series Batman, Kitt was a star of stage, film, television and music, who was nominated for three Tony awards, two Grammy awards and two Emmy awards, according to her official Web site. A performer to the very end, CNN reports that Kitt taped a PBS special six weeks ago in Chicago, which is set to air in February.

Two year ago Little David and I attended the wretched Off Broadway show Mimi Le Duck, only because we feared that this day would be here soon. I will forever be glad that we got to sit ten rows from the stage and hear Eartha Kitt's inimitable growl. From 1962: C'est Si Bon and I Want To Be Evil.

From 1983: The gay disco classic, Where Is My Man.

From 1984: I Love Men. From 1989: Cha Cha Heels.

Xmas 1966

Yeah, it's seems pretty obvious, even 42 years ago.

Dance Of The Sugar Plum Lesbians

This story makes its fifth annual appearance on JMG....

Grand Central Terminal functions as the mechanical heart of midtown New York City, pumping out several thousand workers and tourists on one beat, then sucking in several thousand more on the next.

The rhythms of the terminal are fascinating.

Beat. Four thousand, inbound from New Haven.

Beat. Three thousand, outbound to Westchester.

Worlds collide on the main floor.

The tourists gawk up at the gloriously ornate ceiling and uselessly flash their digital cameras at objects hundreds of feet away.

The commuters rush up to the track displays to determine their track number, then dart across the terminal floor, dodging the milling tourists, heads down, like running backs heading for the end zone.

It's mesmerizing. It's majestic.

And sometimes, like tonight, it's magical.

I'm walking through the massive main room just as the holiday laser show begins on the ceiling. To the tune of Take The "A" Train, the laser depicts two trains arriving from different directions. The trains stop opposite each other and a reindeer leaps out of each one and crosses over to the opposite train.

The laser traces the outline of one of the zodiac constellations painted on the ceiling. The Cancer crab leaps to life and becomes the Crab Conductor, waddling down the center aisle of the car, punching the reindeers' ticket stubs with his claws.

I move over to the edge of the room, near the entrance for Track 25, so I can watch the reaction to the show. As usual, I'm more entertained by watching the audience than by watching the actual show.

At the ticket windows, standing in front of signs that say "Harlem Line" or "Hudson Line", commuters tilt their heads painfully back to view the show directly overhead. The tourists cluster in delighted circles, holding each others' elbows for balance as they nearly bend over backwards.

Some people move to the edges of the great hall, as I have, to remove themselves from the traffic flow while they watch. Among those that come to join me on the perimeter of the room is a lesbian couple. They stand quite close to me, the taller woman behind the shorter one, with her arms wrapped around her, supporting her a bit as they both lean back on the marble wall.

The shorter woman is stout with a large firm chest. Her hair is short and brushed back into what might have once been called a ducktail. She has an ornate tattoo on her left forearm and she has a leather wallet protruding from the rear pocket of her jeans, attached to her leather belt by a short silver chain. She has more than a passing resemblence to Tony Danza, her big boobs notwithstanding, so naturally (in my head) I name her Toni.

Toni's girlfriend is blond and her short ponytail dangles just above her collar. She is wearing long Christmas tree earrings which nearly brush her shoulders. Her lanky, sinewy limbs are bound in a tight running outfit, over which she is wearing a school athletic jacket. I imagine that she might be a coach at Yale or Harvard, perhaps a girls lacrosse coach, or maybe track and field.

Coach is squeezing Toni tightly and they bounce together to the music a bit. Coach looks over at me and catches me smiling. She nudges Toni, who looks over at me too, and we all grin goofily at each other for a moment.

Overhead, a new show begins. The familiar opening notes of Tchaikovsky's Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies ring out as the Empire State and the Chrysler buildings sprout arms, bow to each other, and begin waltzing across the ceiling.

I look around the room and it's as if time was frozen for just a second, every person stopped in mid-stride, eyes cast upward, mouths open in silent joy.

Toni pushes away from Coach, turns around and delivers her a bow as deep and as elegant as the one just depicted overheard.

"Madame, may I please have this dance?" she asks Coach.

Coach looks around a bit awkwardly. "You are TOO much!" And she giggles.

"Madame, I must insist!" says Toni, as she takes Coach's hands into hers.

Coach relents and she and Toni begin a beautful, slow waltz, moving in half-time to the music. As you might have guessed already, Toni leads.

As they dance, their eyes remain locked on each other. Toni is giving Coach an intense look, her lips tightly curled into a satisfied smile. Coach is grinning from ear to ear and again, she giggles.

All around Coach and Toni, the tourists, the businessmen, the students, the conductors, even the guy with a broom...they're all watching. Some are expressionless, but more are smiling, and some of them...some of them are frantically fussing with their cameras, eager to capture this magical New York Moment.

Serendipity prevails, the tune ends, and Toni dips Coach backwards with a dramatic upsweep of her free arm as a firestorm of camera flashes erupt around them. Toni pulls Coach up and close to her and they hug. There's another camera flash and the crowd begins to move along.

Then.

"Hey, look!"

The laser show is being concluded with giant sprigs of mistletoe appearing over our heads. This time it's Coach who bends down and plants a long tender kiss on Toni's non-lipsticked mouth. There's another flash of cameras from the delighted audience.

Toni takes Coach's hand and they begin to move off towards the exit.

"Oh, don't stop!" says a disappointed woman, still rummaging for her camera.

Toni looks back over her shoulder and says, "I never will."

Grand Central Terminal, the mechanical heart of New York City, beats again. But this time I hear a different rhythm. This time I hear a double beat.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

Shepard Fairey On Rick Warren

Shepard Fairey, the creator of the Obama campaign's most iconic image also drew the cover of this week's TIME Magazine Person Of The Year issue. But Fairey has mixed feelings over the honor. From last Friday:

“Tomorrow my illustration for Time Magazine’s “Person of The Year” hits the newsstands. While I’m very honored to be validated by a periodical that is nothing short of an American institution, the moment is bittersweet because I’m very disappointed by Obama’s appointment of Rick Warren to deliver his invocation during Obama’s inaugural address. Rick Warren is against gay marriage and reproductive rights, and he does not believe in evolution (maybe he offers himself as proof of lack of evolution). I understand that Obama is trying to appeal to conservatives and evangelicals, but this move is symbolically a slap in the face to many people. Warren is not a uniter, but a divider… he is intolerant in many of his views.

"I still think Obama is the best choice for president, but I can’t condone Warren’s involvement in Obama’s inauguration, no matter how insignificant it is. While I’m on the subject of gay marriage, I will be donating a chunk of the proceeds from an inauguration poster of Obama I was asked to create to the movement to overturn Prop 8. At first I was considering pulling my inauguration poster, but I think re-directing funds from it to put into a cause I care about is actually more constructive. Plus, I wouldn’t want withdrawing the image to come across as a blanket boycott of Obama. I’m sure I will ultimately disagree with Obama about many things, but I think I will agree with him on more. I think it is important to speak one’s mind, but also to not let the narcissism of petty differences sabotage our unity and progress.”

I think our differences with Obama on Rick Warren are far, far more than "petty", but I'll agree with Fairey that we can probably expect to agree with Obama much less than we disagree. The question is, exactly how much will this particular disagreement impede the progress of the movement? Have we made the necessary noise and can now get back to the business of Obama's promises to us? I don't know. I think this pervasive sense of betrayal may linger.

Mmm, Mmm, Gay

Here we go again. The Campbell Soup Company booked an ad in The Advocate depicting a two-mom family and right on cue, the American Family Association crawled out their sewer.

"Not only did the ads cost Campbell's a chunk of money," writes AFA Chairman Donald Wildmon in an email alert, "but they also sent a message that homosexual parents constitute a family and are worthy of support." Wildmon is seeking people who will contact the soup company and ask Campbell's to "stop supporting the gay agenda." According to the Campbell's Soup website, the company's businesses strive to avoid advertising that disparages any religious, ethnic or political group or that "implies that Campbell supports specific points of view." For Wildmon, however, spending advertising dollars in a magazine called "The Advocate" and promoting a lesbian couple and their son with the line "no matter the structure of your family" clearly indicates the company's support of redefining traditional family norms to fit a "specific point of view." "Campbell Soup Company," writes Wildmon, "has openly begun helping homosexual activists push their agenda."

However, the Advocate is reporting that Campbell is shrugging off the AFA protest.

Campbell rep Anthony Sanzio said the company stands behind the ads. "Our position on this is pretty straightforward. Inclusion and diversity play an important role in our business, and that fact is reflected in our marketing plan," he said. "For more than a century people from all walks for life have enjoyed Campbell's products, and we will continue to try to communicate in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them." Sanzio said plans for the Swanson brand include further placements in The Advocate.

Click over to the Advocate story for links to thank Campbell for not bowing to the haters.

Star Wars: The Stage Show

Seriously. Sort of.

A long time from now, in a galaxy far, far away...the Star Wars money machine will still be cranking. Not content with seven feature films or myriad TV spinoffs ranging from the current Clone Wars cartoon series to the dreaded Star Wars Holiday Special, the Jedi masterminds are readying a stage show.

George Lucas has signed off on Star Wars: A Musical Journey, a two-hour live musical event featuring a Stormtrooper kick line and singing Wookiees John Williams' Oscar-winning score. Premiering next year in London's O2 arena, the production will be performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in synch with movie clips from the six live-action films. The show will play in chronological order, from The Phantom Menace to Return of the Jedi. The production will blast off April 10 in the U.K. and then embark on a European tour, complete with an exhibition of rare Star Wars collectibles, including never-before-seen models, props, costumes and production artwork. No word when it will visit America.

This gives me perfect cover to mention 1978's Star Wars Holiday Special, featuring the original cast including a singing Princess Leia.

Call To Appoint Openly Gay William White As Secretary Of The Navy Grows Louder

Equal Rep, a grassroots group founded by Join The Impact co-founder Paul Sousa, is calling for support in their bid to get Barack Obama to nominate William White as the first openly gay Secretary of the Navy.

In a short amount of time, White has already earned some impressive endorsements. Retired general Hugh Shelton, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said White "would be phenomenal." He added that White's extensive background as a fund-raiser for veterans' and military causes would be helpful in the job. Congressman Jerrold Nadler said White is "very capable" on the basis of observing his work at the Intrepid, located on the Hudson River, which is in Nadler's district. Nadler added that White has been a friend of service members and their families through his work with the museum and philanthropic efforts, according to The Washington Times.

"With the whole Rick Warren fiasco ensuing and the fact that gay Americans were completely shut out of Obama's cabinet, this is the perfect opportunity for our President-elect to show gay Americans they have not been forgotten and he truly is committed to equal representation." said Paul Sousa, Equal Rep founder. "William White is not only the most qualified candidate, but appointing him would also send a strong message that change is coming and the antiquated, discriminatory policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be repealed soon."

The vile Elaine Donnelly of the Center For Military Readiness allows that William White has done "admirable good work" in raising millions of dollars for the temporary housing and support of the families of injured soldiers. She also concedes that there is no law against civilian homosexuals working for the Pentagon and that White would not be the first Naval Secretary without prior military experience. But then she reverts to form and raises the straw man of predatory homos in the showers:

Civilian service secretaries do not have to live in the same conditions of what the law describes as “forced intimacy” offering little or no privacy. Congress should protect the interests of surface sailors, Navy SEALS, and submariners who do accept these living conditions, and not pass legislation that would make military life even more difficult. But instead of considering the harmful consequences of repealing the 1993 law, Mr. White’s perceived status as a “poster man” for the cause of gays in the military would distract attention from the serious consequences of repealing the 1993 law. Such an appointment would call into question the judgment of President Obama, the next Commander-in-Chief. Despite his personal views, President Obama should put the needs of the military above the demands of homosexualists who want to use government power to impose their agenda on military men and women.

Donnelly goes on to predict that White's appointment would not only hasten the end of DADT (hooray!) but that its repeal would "increase threefold" the number of sexual harassment incidents in the military. (Donnelly points to her ass as the source of that statistic.)

The Facebook action page for William White is here.

Joseph Lowery, The Other Inaugural Pastor, Is Also Against Marriage Equality

From last night's episode of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on MSNBC:

JOSEPH LOWERY: "Well, I've never said I support gay marriage. I support gay rights and I support civil unions. Like a whole lot of people, I have some difficulty with the term gay marriage. Because deep in my heart, deeply rooted in my heart and mind, marriage is associated with man and woman. So I have a little cultural shock with that. But I certainly support civil unions, and that gay partners ought to have all the rights that any other citizens have in this country."

DAVID SHUSTER: "Fair enough, but when somebody suggests that gay partners are somehow like incest or pedophiles, um, what should the response be from people to that?"

JOSEPH LOWERY: "Well, I think that's wrong. I condemn it. I take all kinds of sharp and robust differences with that kind of denigration. But even so, I will not refuse to be on a program with him because we have these differences. That's what the president-elect proposes to do. Bring people together with different views and hopefully out of these discussions and out of association we can find common ground to serve common good."

RELATED: Rick Warren drops loaded references to incest and pedophilia into the conversation when same sex marriage comes up, only to claim he wasn't saying that at all. A commenter on SF Gate nails it:

Context means everything. It seems highly unlikely for someone as well-versed in the Right's "culture wars" as Rick Warren to raise the issue of incest & pedophilia when talking about gays without intending it as a slur. It's like talking about stinginess & Jews, welfare & Blacks - when you raise certain issues that play on peoples' prejudices, you are committing slander on a group of people. The context of the Inauguration is also important. Sure, we need to be tolerant & include all sorts of people. But there is one and only one group in society that lost something in the last election, and Obama should have been particularly sensitive to the fact that gays and those who believe in their equality feel extremely vulnerable right now. We've had 28 years of administrations that have treated us poorly, an election that took away our rights in four states, and even a homophobic murder in New York. Could he not have chosen someone else at this sensitive time?

Santa Gmail Account

You must embiggen to enjoy - the whole thing is a riot: the IM box, the subject lines, even the status messages.

(Via - Someone In A Tree)

HomoQuotable - Peter Staley

"Momentum is a bitch. It’s probably the hardest thing to maintain in any activist movement. Join The Impact, the new web-based group that organized the remarkable nationwide anti-Prop 8 rallies on November 15th, is learning this hard truth pretty quickly. Their three actions since then – a postcard campaign, “Day Without A Gay”, and Saturday night’s nationwide “Light Up The Night” demos – failed to live up to this group’s early promise, or its justifiably glowing press coverage (see their New York Times profile).

"This is not meant to be a dig. I’m in love with this group’s energy, youthfulness, and commitment. I haven’t felt this inspired by gay activism since the days of ACT UP. But I’m also a big believer in learning as you go, and doing honest postmortems. Any movement that only pats itself on the back after each action it takes is doomed to failure. So at the risk of having my head bitten off, I’d like to humbly offer the following advice.

"Momentum matters. The best way to maintain it is to set and achieve attainable goals (or mini-victories that push the ball forward towards a larger victory). Thus far, Join The Impact only seems to be playing variations on a theme, attempting to recreate new versions of their clear victory on November 15th.

"As amazing as that day was, it should be kept in perspective. It was a highly emotional response to a singular event, the passing of Prop 8. As a community, we were stunned, hurt and angry. As with most emotional responses, they will tend to diminish as you get further and further away from the initial event. November 15th was a singular moment, and attempting to recreate it will be as futile as attempting to recreate the Stonewall Riots." - Peter Staley writing on Poz.com. Staley goes on to suggest that Join The Impact focus on states where marriage equality is attainable in the next four years: New York, New Jersey, and California.

Dan Savage agrees:

Not every idea is a good one. As personally upsetting as it can be to hear, "Um, no, we're not going to do that...", it sometimes needs to be said. By someone. It's a movement, after all, not the special Olympics. Sure, it would be nice if everyone got a medal, but boosting the self-esteem of all involved isn't the point. Or shouldn't be. Bad ideas—ideas that squander the energy the movement should be trying to harness—have to be shot down. By someone. And if there's no one involved at Join the Impact who can or will do it, then writers and bloggers are going to have to stop holding our fire. I'm throwing this out there now because I want to get Peter Staley's back.

Pat Robertson: Rick Warren Is Not Obama's Pawn (And PS: Keep DADT)

Ex-Gays Mad That Fannie & Freddie Gave Money To LGBT Activist Groups

Via Christianist "news site" One News Now:

The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) is outraged that even though government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went broke and received a federal bailout, they still managed to give thousands of dollars this year to homosexual activist groups. PFOX executive director Regina Griggs says Freddie Mac shelled out $65,000 over the past two years to the Human Rights Campaign to help homosexual couples adopt children. The Freddie Mac Foundation has given more than $125,000 to homosexual activist groups over the last three years, and the Fannie Mae Foundation has given $80,000 to such groups in the past decade.

Shawn Flaherty, a spokeswoman for Freddie Mac, told PFOX that she was not sure whether the ex-"gay" group would meet grant guidelines. However, Griggs says Flaherty noted the Foundation focuses on three priorities -- stable homes, foster care and adoption, and youth development. "What could be more important than supporting marriage as a man and one woman, adoption by heterosexual couples, and how about telling youth the truth -- you're not born that way [homosexual], that change is possible?" she wonders. "It was interesting because her other comment was that 'the grants have not focused on the gay community. It's a piece of it.' That's my tax dollars silencing me, silencing our organizations, coming after [Christian non-profits]. This is unbelievable."

PFOX head troglodyte Regina Griggs insists that the money was only donated because Barney Frank's ex-boyfriend from twenty years ago used to work for Fannie Mae. Twenty years ago.

Morning View - Tinsel Kitty

Guest Post - Carl Siciliano Executive Director, Ali Forney Center

Christmas is a bittersweet time for me. Ali Forney was murdered on the streets of New York City in December of 1997. He was the seventh homeless LGBT kid I knew who had been killed on the streets between 1994 and 1997. In those days there was no shelter for LGBT kids in New York City. The only youth shelter available was run by the Catholic Church, and it was a place where gay kids were routinely gay bashed and brutalized. Ali and his friends felt safer on the streets, but their lives were filled with humiliation and terror.

Christmas of 1997 was not a very merry one for me. I had really cared for Ali, and admired him. He was a very big-hearted kid who created a real sense of community with the other street kids. He was famous for coming every day to the drop-in center I ran and filling his knapsack with hundreds of condoms to give to other kids working the streets. When two of his closest friends were killed on the streets he went to the police precincts and demanded that the police investigate their murders. Ali was a very effeminate young black man who frequently dressed and identified as a woman. It gives you an idea of the extent to which he cared about his friends that he was willing to expose himself to inevitable hostility and ridicule from the police as he sought for justice.

When Ali was killed I was so heartbroken that I thought I would need to quit this work. I was close to despair over what I saw: hundreds of kids having their lives destroyed on our streets, rejected by their families, their needs ignored by the powers that be in the City. I was also upset with the gay community. The only contact most of these kids had with gay adults was through prostitution. I felt that if gay adults didn't stand up for gay kids and demand that they be protected, then who would?

I ended up deciding that I would channel my hurt and anger into working to create safe housing for homeless LGBT kids. I was inspired by the courage and determination that Ali had demonstrated in advocating for his friends.

Now the Ali Forney Center has become the largest organization in the country dedicated to homeless LGBT youth. We house 48 kids per night in safe homelike apartments scattered around the City. We offer medical care, mental health treatment, and vocational and educational assistance. Hundreds of kids come to us from all over the country for help. Where Ali and his friends were alone and in danger in the cold of winter, now our kids are safe and warm. Where Ali and his friends saw their potential destroyed by drugs and violence, now our kids are given the support they need to get jobs, and go to school, and rebuild their lives.

What I am proudest of, though, is the community that we have created through the Ali Forney Center. Hundreds of gay (and gay-friendly) people have rallied around our kids, cooking for them, teaching them, mentoring them. We have built a beautiful LGBT village to safely raise our LGBT youth (to paraphrase Hillary Clinton).

This Christmas I need to turn to the community for support more than ever before. We have received about $200K less in the past three months than we did at the same time last year. Corporate and Foundation support has gone way down since the economy tanked. I have been spending many sleepless nights worrying about how to pay our bills and keep this going. I need the generosity and caring of the individual members of the LGBT community to make up for the gap. So if you can, please send checks to:

Ali Forney Center
224 West 35th Street, Suite 1102
New York, NY 10001

Or donate online here.

I thank Joe for his kindness and support in giving us this opportunity. Many readers responded to my Thanksgiving appeal for which I am very grateful. I thank you in advance for your continuing generosity. Together we can see to it that when a teen comes out of the closet, they don't get thrown to the streets.

Merry Christmas!

Carl Siciliano

Prayers For Bobby

On January 24th, Lifetime will air Prayers For Bobby, the true story of Bobby Griffith, the teenage gay boy who committed suicide because of his mother's religious intolerance. The movie is based on Leroy Aaron's best-selling 1998 book Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son.Via Queerty, here's a clip:

Rick Warren Does Damage Control

In a transparent move to bolster his image with LGBT people, Rick Warren visited an AIDS thrift shop in West Hollywood yesterday to pose for photos and buy some books (two of which were his own). TMZ reports:

We got this pic, taken yesterday at Out of the Closet thrift store. That's Warren on the right (naturally), his arm around Erol Sarabi, who is openly gay. Warren, who supports the ban on gay marriage which has not sat real well with some Obama supporters, bought 8 to 10 books, two of which were his own (that doesn't help with his Amazon ranking). Warren told Sarabi not to believe everything he reads, that he does a lot for AIDS research and was happy that Out of the Closet does free AIDS testing. Warren also said he met with Melissa Etheridge recently and the two planned to have dinner together -- go figure. By the way, Warren gave a signed copy of his book to Sarabi. The inscription from the Bible, Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."

And then they went down to the Abbey for appletinis.

DC Blowoff Photo Recap

Sorry it took me a few days to get to it, but here's the slideshow from Saturday's Blowoff at DC's 9:30 Club, featuring a guest appearance by Santa Bear. My favorite track of the night: a killer remix of Hey Champ's Cold Dust Girl spun by Bob Mould. Full-screen versions of the photos are here. If you don't want your photo to appear here, please email me.

RELATED: The set list from last week's NYC Blowoff at the Highline Ballroom is here.

Asking And Telling

Former submarine captain Steve Clark Hall is making a documentary about gay and lesbian graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy.

One captain in the Marine Corps had to sign the confining orders to send a lesbian to jail, but was so disturbed that the next day the officer, who was also gay, submitted his resignation papers. Another man, from the Naval Academy Class of 1958, was kicked out of the military because his name was found in the address book of a "known homosexual." Other gay men and lesbians left the service because like Steve Clark Hall, a nuclear submarine captain who retired after a 20-year Navy career, they could no longer bear the burden of harboring an enormous secret about their identity. "I was tired of being single and not being able to live life the way I wanted to," said Hall, 54, who has begun gathering these stories for Out of Annapolis, the documentary film he is making about gay and lesbian alumni of the Naval Academy.

[snip]

"When I was a midshipman, there were no gay or lesbian role models," he said. "All we ever heard was when someone was kicked out." He hopes the film will help people see that gay service members exist and have achieved great things, and that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy - which requires gays in the military to hide their sexual identities or risk expulsion - is a "folly."

"This is another way to tell our story and unveil the masks of who we are. We need to educate our fellow alumni and anyone who will pay attention," said Jeff Petrie, the founder of the gay alumni group USNA Out, who has agreed to be interviewed for the film. "When I look back at how other minorities were treated in military history and how far we've come with how those people are now part of an integrated team, I know the same will be true for us one day. And I want to take advantage of every opportunity I can to move that along."

Hall hopes to have the film ready for the festival circuit this summer.

RELATED: I was tipped to this story by JMG reader and USNA Out founder Jeff Petrie (quoted above) who notes that news of the documentary has been posted on the Naval Academy's alumni association website, which Petrie says is "a big deal for us."

Lesbian Gang-Raped In Bay Area

Somehow I missed this horrible story last week.

A woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building, authorities said Monday. Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan. "It just pushes it beyond fathomable," he said. "The level of trauma _ physical and emotional _ this victim has suffered is extreme." Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.

Police are offering a $10,000 reward for the identities of the attackers.
UPDATE: Via Towleroad, here's the AP report.

Warren: Bloggers Are Lying About Me

Rick Warren says that bloggers "really need to get a life" and stop lying about him. And then he goes right on to LIE that he's never compared same-sex marriage to incest and pedophilia. Here are his exact words from his December 15th interview with BeliefNet.

"The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage"

Seems pretty clear to us, Rick.

HRC Send 27,000 Letters To LDS

Yesterday was a busy day in the mailroom of the Mormon Church.

President Thomas S. Monson: You have mail - boxes of it. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) delivered 27,000 letters to LDS Church headquarters Monday - all of them asking the Mormon leader to support legal protections for gay and transgender Utahns. The national gay-rights group has endorsed Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative, a collection of bills that would, among other things, provide rights to fair housing and employment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Utahns and domestic-partner benefits for same-sex couples.

The movement was born in response to statements the LDS Church made in the wake of California's Proposition 8 - which eliminated gay marriage in the Golden State - that the church "does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights or probate rights." Monson and other LDS leaders helped to get the gay-marriage ban enacted, urging members to donate their time and money to the campaign and, later, igniting opponents' protests at LDS temples and calls for boycotts of Utah.

"The reason there's such an uproar is every LGBT person in the United States was affected by it," since Proposition 8 stripped away rights that had been granted to gay couples, said Jerry Rapier, a Salt Lake City resident and member of the HRC's board of governors. Rapier and Luana Chilelli, also on the board, delivered seven boxes of printed e-mails, written by people from throughout the United States, to the LDS Church Office Building after the messages were caught in the church's spam filter.

The LDS claims they took no measures to block emails from the HRC. Wanna bet all those letters went straight (heh) into the shredder?

Sarah Get Your Gun

The Sarah Palin 2009 Calendar is now available.

This high quality 13 month wall calendar features:

• Over 50 photographs of Gov Sarah Palin and her family
• Never before seen photos
• 13 pages of high quality gloss paper
• Closed dimensions: 9"x12"
• Pre-drilled hole for hanging
• Cellophane wrapped
• Produced and printed in the USA

(Via - Wonkette)

You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio

Anybody remember the Orgasmatron, the phone-boothy thing that sent people into ecstasy in Woody Allen's Sleeper? Scientists in the UK are developing an implantable brain chip that works in a similar way.

The chip works by sending tiny shocks from implanted electrodes in the brain. The technology has been used in the United States to treat Parkinson's disease. But in recent months scientists have been focusing on the area of the brain just behind the eyes known as the orbitofrontal cortex - this is associated with feelings of pleasure derived from eating and sex.

A research survey conducted by Morten Kringelbach, senior fellow at Oxford University's department of psychiatry, found the orbitofrontal cortex could be a "new stimulation target" to help people suffering from anhedonia, an inability to experience pleasure from such activities. His findings are reported in the Nature Reviews Neuroscience journal. Neurosurgery professor Tipu Aziz, said: "There is evidence that this chip will work. A few years ago a scientist implanted such a device into the brain of a woman with a low sex drive and turned her into a very sexually active woman. She didn't like the sudden change, so the wiring in her head was removed."

Right now the implantation procedure is considered "crude" but researchers say that within ten years a "wide range of therapies" will be derived from the chip.

Another Parting Shot From Dubya

Last week our ignoble leader issued a set of rules that would protect health care providers who refuse to provide treatment or medication based on personal objections.

The Bush administration yesterday granted sweeping new protections to health workers who refuse to provide care that violates their personal beliefs, setting off an intense battle over opponents' plans to try to repeal the measure. Critics began consulting with the incoming Obama administration on strategies to reverse the regulation as quickly as possible while supporters started mobilizing to fight such efforts.

The far-reaching regulation cuts off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, health plan, clinic or other entity that does not accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other employees who refuse to participate in care they find ethically, morally or religiously objectionable. It was sought by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways.

But women's health advocates, family planning proponents, abortion rights activists and some members of Congress condemned the regulation, saying it will be a major obstacle to providing many health services, including abortion, family planning, infertility treatment, and end-of-life care, as well as possibly a wide range of scientific research.

Under the new rules, lesbians can be refused artificial insemination services. Pharmacists can refuse to dispense birth control and morning-after medications. A major battle to rescind the rules is already underway.

The $3 Subway Ride?

Well, probably not. But the MTA has released its list of proposed fare increases for next year, listing a $3 subway ride as the top possible price under the new schedule. That way when it turns out to be $2.75, people aren't so freaked. Via NY Times:

The base subway and bus fare could go as high as $3 next year as part of a proposed fare and toll increase meant to bridge the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s gaping budget deficit. The authority on Monday released a list of the maximum possible fare and toll increases when it posted a notice with the dates of eight public hearings on the proposal. The notice said that a monthly unlimited ride MetroCard could go as high as $105, while some fares on Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road could increase by up to a third. Tolls could go as high as $7. But riders and drivers should be cautious when reading the notice. It gives the maximum level to which fares and tolls can rise. But it may be misleading. The authority will issue a more detailed set of proposals next week that in many cases will show smaller increases. The authority said that it builds some leeway into the maximum increases in the notice so that it can modify its proposals if it chooses, raising or lowering different types of fares. It is not allowed to raise fares by more than what it says in the notice.

Mike Rogers Goes On Hardball To Talk About Rick Warren

Renowned LGBT activist Mike Rogers (BlogActive, PageOneQ) went on Hardball last night to debate Rev. Eugene Rivers about Rick Warren. Rogers gets some really good shots in, watch this. Digby's take:

Rogers took a very unusual tack and said that Rivers coming on the show to defend Warren shows how powerful the gay community is and that he was very happy to see Warren changing his web site just today (to hide his more outrageously homophobic content.). He characterized this as a big victory for gay rights. ("I compliment Rick Warren on seeing the error of his ways and changing his web site.") Rivers was agitated by this and seemed to be frustrated that the dialog wasn't taking the predicted path, rather sarcastically saying things like "well we're all happy now, I guess."

But the really interesting reaction came about when Rogers suggested that if Warren is to be seen as a man who builds bridges between the right and the left that he should quietly and without any kind of fanfare meet with leaders of the gay community and listen to their concerns. Rivers reacted very badly.

(Via - Pam Spaulding)

HomoQuotable - Harvey Fierstein

"A couple of boys were calling my best friend a faggot one unhappy day at summer camp. Courses of action seemed slim to my adolescent mind. I could stand up for Jack branding myself a fag as well and insuring myself a miserable summer, or I could join in with the name callers, lose my closest friend, but assure my standing with the majority. I sacrificed my friend on the altar of popularity. I don’t think I need to tell you that political expediency was a terrific short-term solution but a long-term nightmare. My summer concluded uneventfully but none of those boys became my friend or did me any favors. And forty years later I still feel the loss of Jack along with a piece of my self respect that I can never win back. Mine was an act of cowardice and betrayal.

"It seems Obama is now maneuvering through the summer camp of his political adolescence and is about to make the same bad choice as I. He can call the placing of a hate monger like Rick Warren on the world dais political healing or inclusiveness or any other nicety he’d like, but I call it pandering to the lowest instinct of the worst kind of politics.

"President Elect Obama, your victory was made possible in no small part to the votes and wallets of the gay and lesbian community along with our supporters. Turning your back on us does not make you more mainstream American. It just makes you a coward." - Harvey Fierstein, writing on Facebook.

Morning View - Madison Square Garden

This is the 7th Avenue entrance to Madison Square Garden, which is actually behind the office building seen here. Underneath both buildings, Penn Station spans the entire block.

Rick Warren Pulls Anti-Gay Message From His Church's Site

Rick Warren's Saddleback Church has just scrubbed its site of the above message announcing that unrepentant gays were unwelcome. John Aravosis wonders why:

So does Rick Warren now welcome gays, all gays, as members of his church? Or is he simply embarrassed of his views - embarrassed of God's views, per Warren's own admission? And if Warren is embarrassed of God's views, then what is he doing as a public spokesman on religion? And whose idea was it to remove the anti-gay language? Warren's, or Obama's?

Diaz Fans The Flames

The above headline is from Elizabeth Benjamin's excellent politics blog for the NY Daily News, where today she notes that renegade Democratic NY Sen. Ruben Diaz has issued a statement of support for Rick Warren.

Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., who infuriated gay advocates for tying his state Senate leadership vote to the issue of same-sex marriage, released a statement yesterday praising Barack Obama for picking Rick Warren to deliver his inaugural invocation - a move that is unlikely to improve the conservative Democrat's standing with the LGBT community.

Here's an excerpt of Diaz' statement of thanks to Barack Obama:

"Obama has sent a message to the world that 'Yes We Can' has a Democratic Party where everyone should be included. It has been the belief that the Democratic Party is owned exclusively by certain groups, and if you do not believe in nor follow the ideology of these groups and their agendas, then you will be a registered outcast. You will never be invited to official Party activities. You will not get their support, and they call you names and do everything possible to push you out of the Democratic Party. To some people, if you oppose homosexual marriage and abortion, you are not a Democrat and you are certainly not be invited to deliver an inaugural invocation To those people, it does not matter how hard you fight to protect human services by creating job opportunities for your community, bringing low income housing to the poor, fighting against the closing of health services, protecting the immigrants, and opposing the Governor of the State of New York and the Mayor of the City of New York for cutting needed services when they try to balance their budgets on the backs of the poor and less fortunate families and senior citizens."

Jeff Campagna, leader of Facebook marriage equality group The Power, responds:

"I'm deeply disappointed (though increasingly not surprised) by gay leaders, Democratic and otherwise who give the Obama transition a free pass on the Rick Warren invitation. It is not trivial. Not only is Rick Warren a hatemonger who uses gay rights to divide; his invitation gives political cover to others like him.

"Today the Daily News reports that New York's Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., a rabid homophobe and a Democrat, is reading Obama's invitation of Rick Warren as validation for his bigoted positions (see below). He says in the article that Obama, "set an example that many leaders of the Democratic Party should follow." Perhaps you are familiar with Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., the Democratic New York State senator from the Bronx who rallied a gang of three rogue Democrats to prevent a pro-marriage equality Senate Majority Leader (Malcolm Smith) from taking office in January. Diaz, like Warren, is an evangelical minister. In addition using LGBT rights as a bargaining chip in the senate, in 2004 as a city councilor he tried to stop Stonewall 25 (claiming it would bring AIDS to New York City), and he also filed suit to close the Harvey Milk School for at-risk LGBT youth.

"As the leader of the movement to call on Diaz and his cronies to be good Democrats and to support their party's takeover of the New York State Senate, I'm disgusted to hear that Diaz is now using Rick Warren's invitation to the invocation as evidence that bigots like himself are welcome at the table, while Democrats and activists are trying to render him politically powerless in the struggle for control of the New York State Senate.

"Barack Obama is no longer in a political campaign. Now it's time for him to lead. If he really believes that our relationships are as valid as his and Michelle's, if he really believes that there should be a zero tolerance policy for hate, if he really opposed Proposition 8, and if he really believes that our relationships should never be equated with pedophilia and incest, then he should say so in the strongest terms possible, with a re-commitment, in fact an increased commitment, to action to bring about equality for LGBT people. Because at the moment, he's sending a distinctly different message. And those who would deny us our rights are hearing it loud and clear."

Pope: Protecting Humanity From Gays Is Like Protecting The Rainforest

In his latest and most bizarre anti-gay missive, Pope Benedict says it's just as important to protect humanity from dirty homosexuals as it is to protect the rainforest.

Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction." (The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration. "The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."

The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound." The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work." He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected."

TRIVIA: Every time you take it up the ass, we lose another acre of the Amazon.

Not So Silent Night

It looks like Saturday's Light Up The Night event was not quite the silent protest requested by the organizers at Join The Impact, at least in NYC. The clip below was sent to us by Richard Davis at NYC's LGBT Center.
Also check out Eric Leven's coverage of the protest in Miami and Rex Wockner's report from San Diego. Wockner says that things were "silent" in San Diego, which he rightly took issue with.

As this was a "silent vigil," there was no chanting -- and participants were told not to bring protest signs. That's all good and well as long as passersby have some inkling what you're silently doing. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case here. People kept asking. The pretend nuns in face paint likely added to the confusion.

Join The Impact has posted hundreds of photos and videos from around the country. Their next action will be a January 10th march on the nation's state capitals to demand a repeal of DOMA.

No Snow Days For Gotham's Horses

Longtime readers will know that the only issue on which I'll likely ever agree with PETA is the treatment of NYC's carriage horses. Check out this clip from filmmaker Donny Moss (Blinders), which was taken during Friday's ice and snowstorm.

The tourists adore the carriage rides through Central Park and many New Yorkers see the trade as quintessentially Manhattan. But all I see is sad, abused, tired animals.

(Via- Gothamist)

DList To End

The New York Press is reporting that popular gay gossip/hookup site DList will be ending its run next month.

If you’re a 20-something gay man in New York City, chances are you’ve heard of DList.com, have an active profile or have at least hooked up as a result of it. You can imagine my surprise Saturday night at Michael Formika Jones’ new party “F-Word” when nightlife trailblazer and DList creator Daniel Nardicio (pictured at right) told me he was pulling the plug on the social networking site. “Dlist is pretty much dead,” he confessed. “I moved on emotionally when I realized I’d partnered with the wrong person. So I’m developing the next, new exciting version of what I wanted for DList! It'll incorporate all my original ideas from DList, but move the whole venture into live, real contact.” Though DList may be over—it’s expected to go offline by mid-January—Nardicio is taking his show to Fire Island for the summer. “Also,” he said, “I'm developing an online store to help financially-challenged gay guys shop for cool stuff and promote hot new brands.”

A Profile In Hate

The LA Times has profiled a California couple that has "devoted" themselves to fighting marriage equality.

Abel Ferreira and his wife, Robbie, never considered themselves political activists. But when Proposition 8 landed on November's ballot, the Spring Valley couple did everything they could to ensure that the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage got passed. They made phone calls. They attended prayer rallies. They fasted for 40 days. For the Ferreiras, as for so many other people motivated to action by Proposition 8, the measure wasn't just a matter of politics. It was about family, faith and the future of the country.

"I saw it as a crossroads in our country," said Abel, 55. "I feel like for the sake of our country and our family I had to stand up and be heard." The family was relieved when the measure passed on Nov. 4. But since then, gay activists have fiercely protested the outcome, and the California Supreme Court has said it will consider legal challenges to Proposition 8.

The Ferreiras know their struggle isn't over. "It definitely let us know that we're in a battle," Abel said. "When you're in the heat of the moment, there's no standing on the fence. You're committed. And we're committed to this fight." The Ferreiras like life in their gated community in the eastern suburbs of San Diego. Their house, nestled at the end of a cul-de-sac, is comfortable, with plenty of room for them and their three grown children, who still live at home.

But the Ferreiras are afraid of what is happening to the world beyond the gates. "I'm just seeing our morals and everything just deteriorating before us," Robbie, 49, said one recent evening. "The first time they wanted to take prayer out of schools, we as believers should have stood up," said Abel, who was recently laid off from his job as a salesman of manufactured homes. "Every time you give them a little bit, they want more."

The Ferreiras' fight for Proposition 8 began less than two miles away, at Skyline Church. The family is among several thousand people who worship at the bluff-top church. Pastor Jim Garlow, one of the state's most vocal proponents of the measure, was crucial in collecting the more than 600,000 signatures required to get the proposition on the ballot.

The divorced and remarried Ferreiras drive a Mercedes and live in a gated community, which is kind of interesting as the husband (who is so terrified about the "deteriorating morals" of this country) is a convicted drug dealer who spent years in prison and is now an unemployed mobile home salesman. How does that work? In addition to praying and fasting, the wife gave up watching Days of Our Lives to show Jeebus how much she hates the gays. Or something.

NYC: City Hall To Open For Inauguration

If you can't get your broke ass down to DC, the New York City Council will open City Hall to the public to show Barack Obama's inauguration on big screen TVs. Via emailed press release:

Speaker Christine C. Quinn, the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus and the New York City Council announce that City Hall will open its doors to all New Yorkers on January 20th, 2009 – Inauguration Day – so they can come together to view the historic moment that President-Elect Barack Obama is sworn into office. Voter turnout in the 2008 election was a record high and the enthusiasm that began back in November has continued and has created significant interest in the inauguration.

Recognizing that during these difficult financial times, many New Yorkers may be unable to make the trip to Washington DC for the inauguration, The City Council has decided to open up its side of City Hall to the public for the occasion. Specifically, the City Council will set up big screen televisions in City Council Chambers, The Committee Room, and The Rotunda. The doors for the event will open at 10:30am and the event will continue throughout the day until President-Elect Obama’s speech has concluded. New Yorkers who are interested in coming to City Hall on inauguration day should RSVP by January 16, 2009 to 212-442-6245 or email to events@council.nyc.gov.

Note that you must RSVP to attend.