Saturday, July 25, 2009

Author E. Lynn Harris Dead At 54

Author E. Lynn Harris, whose books about African-American men on the down-low were wildly popular with black women, died unexpectedly in Los Angeles yesterday at age 54.
Harris wrote a series of novels that exposed readers to characters rarely depicted in literature: black, affluent gay men who were masculine, complex and, sometimes, tormented. Keith Boykin, an author and friend, said Harris encouraged the black community to talk openly about homosexuality. "We have a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy in the black community," Boykin said. "E. Lynn Harris encouraged people to ask and to tell." In books like "Invisible Life," "A Love of My Own," and his New York Times best-selling memoir, "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," Harris virtually invented a new genre: books that depicted black gay men living double lives. Though Harris wrote primarily about black gay men, some of his biggest fans were black women. His books became staples in black beauty salons, bookstores and book clubs. "It was hard to go on a subway in places in New York or D.C. and not see some black woman reading an E. Lynn Harris novel," Boykin said.

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80's Flashback

The Earons, Land Of Hunger, 1984. Delicious "astro-funk" from a band that only named its members with decimals. Members .28, .22 and .18 were also in Machine, which gave us the disco classic There But For The Grace Of God Go I.

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Friday, July 24, 2009

Evening View - Tranquility Base

Chris and I drove through a downpour much of the way through the mountains this afternoon and about ten minutes after taking this photo, we got clobbered by another thunderstorm. Most of our stuff got soaked by sideways rain, despite the tarps, so at the moment I'm tent-blogging and hoping things let up in time for tonight's bonfire party down at the rec hall. But even a soggy weekend at Hillside is pretty good.

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Opinion Of U.S. Improves Under Obama

According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, global opinion of the United States has improved dramatically in almost all surveyed countries since Barack Obama took office.
The image of the United States has improved markedly in most parts of the world, reflecting global confidence in Barack Obama. In many countries opinions of the United States are now about as positive as they were at the beginning of the decade before George W. Bush took office. Improvements in the U.S. image have been most pronounced in Western Europe, where favorable ratings for both the nation and the American people have soared. But opinions of America have also become more positive in key countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well.

Signs of improvement in views of America are seen even in some predominantly Muslim countries that held overwhelmingly negative views of the United States in the Bush years. The most notable increase occurred in Indonesia, where people are well aware of Obama's family ties to the country and where favorable ratings of the U.S. nearly doubled this year. However for the most part, opinions of the U.S. among Muslims in the Middle East remain largely unfavorable, despite some positive movement in the numbers in Jordan and Egypt. Animosity toward the U.S., however, continues to run deep and unabated in Turkey, the Palestinian territories and Pakistan.
Israel is the only country of the 25 surveyed in which opinion of the United States has declined over the last year.

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Gordon Liddy: Obama Is An Illegal Alien

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Arrested: All Of New Jersey

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SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera Wants In On Federal Marriage Suit

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has filed a request to join the Olson/Boies federal suit to overturn Prop 8. Recently the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights also requested standing in the suit, despite a fierce rebuffing by the Olson/Boies team.
The city would add "a unique local government perspective" to the case, along with its extensive legal experience in defending gay and lesbian rights, if allowed to intervene, City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office said in court papers. The city and leading gay-rights groups have been allowed to file written arguments supporting the challenge to Prop. 8. But only the plaintiffs -two couples and an organization represented by attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies, adversaries in the 2000 Bush vs. Gore presidential election case - have the right to direct the case, negotiate with defenders of Prop. 8 and file appeals.
Herrera's office has promised to "work cooperatively" with the Olson/Boies team if allowed to join the suit.

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Haters Challenge Wisconsin's DP Law

Anti-gay group Wisconsin Family Action has filed a challenge to the state's new domestic partners law, claiming it is in violation of the ban on same-sex marriage.
"Elected officials should never pass laws that violate the will of Wisconsin voters who legitimately amended the state constitution in a fair election," Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action and lead petitioner in the lawsuit, said in a statement. "This new domestic partnership scheme is a sneaky assault on marriage from those who are determined to redefine marriage in Wisconsin." Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said the domestic partnerships were about providing legal protections to same-sex couples, not marriage. "This is simply a set of basic protections to ensure that people can get some simple, straightforward rules that help them," Sensenbrenner said. "No one ever set this up to be marriage." Wisconsin will become the first state with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions to put in place domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. It is also the first Midwestern state to legislatively extend legal protections to same-sex couples.
Same-sex couples will be able to register as domestic partners in Wisconsin beginning August 1st. Wisconsin Family Action has filed their challenge directly to the Supreme Court, hoping for rapid action, something they are unlikely to see as the Supreme Court typically does not hear cases that have not worked their way through lower courts. Follow the case on the blog of the LGBT rights group, Fair Wisconsin.

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Today In Frivolous Lawsuits

A man has filed suit against Denny's because he shocked, SHOCKED, that the Meat Lover's Scramble (which features two eggs with chopped bacon, diced ham, crumbled sausage, Cheddar cheese, plus two bacon strips, two sausage links, hash browns, and two pancakes) has 5,690 milligrams of sodium. Nick Benedetto, 48, says he has eaten at Denny's for years and now has high blood pressure because they never warned him about the high levels of salt in highly-salted meats.

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Senate Approves Final Hate Crimes Bill

Last night the Senate approved their final version of defense appropriations bill to which the Matthew Shepard Act is attached. During the August recess, staffers from the House and Senate will meet in a conference committee to hammer out the differences between their two versions. In September we should see a vote by both chambers on the compromise bill. Fingers crossed.

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Sen. John "Defender Of Marriage" Ensign Losing Staff, Still Running For Re-Election

And the mysterious C Street House story gets better and better.

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80's Flashback

Bush Tetras, Too Many Creeps, 1980. The song that made me want to move to NYC so I could be a Lower East Side punk rock lesbian.

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HomoQuotable - Rupert Everett

"I think it was fortuitous that he died... He was supposed to be doing 50 concerts in London. It wouldn’t have mattered how good or bad he was. He wouldn’t have managed to do all of them and the press would have destroyed him. He was a freak. He looked like a character from Shrek. He was a black to white minstrel. He was crucified by that court case when he was accused of child molestation -- that killed him. He personified the pain and anxiety of a black man in a slave country.

"We all watched as he changed from black to white. He was living performance art. You cannot divide the music from the person. I think his life -- and death -- is a great lesson. I think we are going to see the end of celebrity as we know it. Show business is not an honest profession. It’s like the last days of Versailles. I do wonder how much more bullshit people can take about celebrities. We’re living in very strange times. We have Michael Jackson, a black man who has gone white, and we have President Barack Obama, who is a half white man gone black. It’s absolutely fascinating to watch." - Faded actor Rupert Everett, speaking to the UK's Daily Mail.

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Sunday: Rally To Protest Gay Bashings

This Sunday in Queens, the NYC Anti-Violence Project and others will rally to protest a recent spate of gay bashings around the city.
Leslie Mora, 30, was attacked June 19 in Jackson Heights by two men who shouted anti-gay slurs and hurled a belt at her, cops said. Less than three weeks later, on July 8, Carmella Etienne, 22, was pelted with rocks and beer bottles by two other men in St. Albans, police said. The suspects also threatened to cut her throat. In response to the attacks, the Queens gay community has scheduled a rally Sunday to raise awareness about violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The rally, to start at 2 p.m. in front of the Jackson Heights Post Office at 37th Ave. and 78th St., is the first of several events being planned on the issue. "We want to show people that transgender people still fight for survival," said local transgender activist Melissa Sklarz of Woodside. "With these two attacks in Queens, it forces us to reexamine our relationship with our neighborhoods.
Anti-Violence Project executive director Sharon Stapel notes that the summer of 2009 has been particularly bad, with over 80 gay-related instances of violence or harassment reported to her organization over the last two months.

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Limbaugh: Obama Angry At America

Limbaugh: With "purposeful intent," President Obama is "out to destroy America's private sector."

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Friendly Voices - Daniel Radcliffe

"I just loathe homophobia. It’s just disgusting and animal and stupid and it’s just thick people who can’t get their heads around it and are just scared. I grew up around gay people entirely. I was the only child in my class who had any experience of homosexuality or anything like that." - Daniel Radcliffe, speaking to Attitude Magazine.

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San Diego: Fellow Sailor Charged In Murder Of August Provost

The Navy has charged a fellow sailor in the killing of August Provost, the gay soldier found murdered last month in a guard shack at the entrance of USMC base Camp Pendleton near San Diego.
Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Campos, a 32-year-old gas system technician, has been charged with murder, arson, unlawful entry, unlawful possession of a firearm and a host of other charges in connection with last month's fatal shooting of a seaman at Camp Pendelton, Navy officials annnounced Thursday. Campos, of Lancaster, is being held at the brig at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station and is cooperating with investigators, who reiterated that there is no indication the killing of August Provost III on June 30 was a hate crime. Provost was gay. "An investigative hearing will be held in the coming weeks," the Navy said. "During the hearing, a military investigating officer will hear evidence to evaluate the charges and evidence." Officials repeatedly have rejected assertions that Provost was killed because he was gay, as some members of his family have suggested. Provost's mother, Melanie Collins, has said her 29-year-old son was shot five times.
Provost reportedly complained to friends and family that he was being harassed for being gay, but may have been afraid to come forward to his superiors due to DADT.

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Madonna - Celebration

Here's a low-rez (including crowd noise) leak of the first single from Madonna's coming greatest hits package. Over at Boy Culture, Matthew Rettenmund has all the details about the release, including artwork and track listings.

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Christian Right Trying To Change Public Education In Texas: God Made The USA

Christianists in Texas are trying to create a history curriculum for public schools that says the United States would not exist were it not for the divine intervention of God.
Members of a panel of experts appointed by the [Texas school] board to revise the state's history curriculum, who include a Christian fundamentalist preacher who says he is fighting a war for America's moral soul, want lessons to emphasise the part played by Christianity in the founding of the US and that religion is a civic virtue. Opponents have decried the move as an attempt to insert religious teachings in to the classroom by stealth, similar to the Christian right's partially successful attempt to limit the teaching of evolution in biology lessons in Texas. One of the panel, David Barton, founder of a Christian heritage group called WallBuilders, argues that the curriculum should reflect the fact that the US Constitution was written with God in mind including that "there is a fixed moral law derived from God and nature", that "there is a creator" and "government exists primarily to protect God-given rights to every individual". Barton says children should be taught that Christianity is the key to "American exceptionalism" because the structure of its democratic system is a recognition that human beings are fallible, and that religion is at the heart of being a virtuous citizen.
One of the members of the panel is a pastor who says that Hurricane Katrina and the defeat of the United States in Vietnam were God's punishment for sexual promiscuity and the tolerance of homosexuals. The above-linked article points out that history education in Texas could actually use a tweaking, as one-third of students recently answered a test question to say that the Magna Carta was signed on the Mayflower.

(Via - AmericaBlog)

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No Pride 09 For Belarus

A small shipment of Pride '09, which features my cover story interview with Rachel Maddow, was seized by Belarus authorities who don't want gay magazines in their country.
Customs officials in Belarus have seized 25 copies of the magazine Pride, which is published by the international Pride group InterPride, whose membership includes Project GayBelarus. Siarhei Androsenka, he head of Project GayBelarus, was informed by customs officials in Minsk of the seizure at the end of last week. On Monday, he visited the customs office and was informed that the copies of the magazine had been seized as GayBelarus had no legal status and that the copies were not all for the personal use of the addressee, Sergey Androsenko. In a statement, posted on their Website, Project GayBelarus pointed out that in the “Republic of Belarus, the rights of freedom speech, distribution and reception of the printed information are often limited”. Belarus, often dubbed “the last dictatorship in Europe”, maintains tight State control over the media, including the import of foreign material. Small concessions are sometimes made as Belarus seeks improved relations with Europe.
Like many similar groups, Project GayBelarus has not been allowed to register as an organization in their country.

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Wisconsin Book Burning Battle Goes On

Remember the Christian group that wants to burn a gay-themed book that they found in their Milwaukee-area library? The battle rages on and the Christianists now want the library to stock books by "ex-gays" in order to "balance" any books that positively depict homosexuality.
Residents have sparred for months on blogs, airwaves and at meetings, including one where a man told the city's library director he should be tarred and feathered. The row even spread to this year's Fourth of July parade, which included a float featuring a washing machine and a sign that read "keep our library clean." "If you told me we would be going through a book challenge of this nature, I'd think, 'Never in a million years,' " said Michael Tyree, director of the West Bend Community Memorial Library. The strife began in February when West Bend couple Jim and Ginny Maziarka objected to some of the content in the city library's young-adult section. They later petitioned the library board to move any sexually explicit books -- the definition of which would be debated -- from the young-adult section to the adult section and to label them as sexually explicit. Ginny Maziarka, 49, said the books in the section of the library aimed at children aged 12 to 18 included homosexual and heterosexual content she thought was inappropriate for youths. She and her husband also asked the library to obtain books about homosexuality that affirmed heterosexuality, such as titles written by "ex-gays," Maziarka said. "All the books in the young-adult zone that deal with homosexuality are gay-affirming. That's not balance," she said.
More on this idiocy, including videos, can be found over at Towleroad.

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Gillibrand: DADT Bill Not Happening

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has given up on her proposed bill to suspend the enforcement of DADT, saying she cannot find enough support for passage. Via Washington Blade:
Matt Canter, a Gillibrand spokesperson, told the Blade on Wednesday that the senator determined there weren't 60 votes available for a vote of cloture on the amendment. "She was working for about a week to assess support among her colleagues for the measure," he said. "It does not appear that we're going to have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. So she's not going to pursue the moratorium amendment at this time." Canter said Gillibrand is working with senators "to continue to highlight the issue and move forward on the issue." Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) is slated to introduce a bill for full repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the Senate. In the House, Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) took over as lead sponsor of repeal legislation earlier this month.

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Obama's Health Care Press Conference

Here's last night's complete health care reform press conference. I have no idea if Obama's plan will work, not the slightest clue.

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Feds Arrest Half Of Jersey

Some strange is going on across the river in Jersey. This morning the feds made a massive corruption sweep and arrested the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, the deputy mayor of Jersey City, a state Assemblyman, several rabbis, and other politicians.
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano has been arrested by the FBI as part of a wide-reaching investigation that is swooping up dozens of people, including other politicians and rabbis, according the WNBC-TV, Hudson County Now is reporting. Jersey Journal file photoHoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, seen here with his wife and daughter at his inauguration July 1, has been arrested by the FBI, according to a TV report. The IRS is also involved, according to the report. "It appears to be a corruption related investigation but justice department and FBI spokesmen would not commenting on the details this morning,'' the report says. "Arrests and searches are underway across Jersey City, Secaucus and numerous Hudson and Bergen county locations. "In past years, New Jersey has seen more than 100 corruption-related arrests of public officials. No word on the specific charges against those being rounded up today. A press conference is expected later today.'' Others reportedly arrested are Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Deputy Jersey City Mayor Leona Baldini.
The mayor of Hoboken only took office three weeks ago, so he must work fast.

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Quote Of The Day - Carol Channing

"Men have been imitating me for as long as I can remember. In fact, most of the impersonations I have seen have had a five-o'clock shadow. I imagine, when or if Johnny should portray me, he will succeed. Because a true artist, such as himself, is one who loves his or her creation and therefore represents their honest view of that which they are creating. I think he is a gifted performer and I would be very proud, as well as interested in seeing what his vision of me would be." - Carol Channing, saying she would love it if Johnny Depp could fulfill his wish to play her in a biopic.

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San Diego's Mormon Temple Kiss-In

Technically this was in La Jolla, if that matters to anybody.

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Details Emerge In Adultery/Blackmail Case Of GOP State Sen. Paul Stanley

The Nashville Scene has gotten some of the delicious details into the scandal surrounding Tennesee state Sen. Paul "No Queer Adoptions" Stanley.
According to court documents, here's what happened: Stanley, who is married with two children, was accused of having an affair with a 22-year-old legislative intern, McKensie Morrison, by the woman's boyfriend. The boyfriend, Joel Palmer Watts. 28, discovered a computer memory disc with sexually explicit photographs of Morrison that appeared to have been taken in Stanley's apartment. Watts then blackmailed Stanley, demanding $10,000 in return for keeping quiet. "Releasing the photographs to individuals or the media would cause embarrassment, both professionally and personally, to Stanley," according to the court affidavit, as if we needed an explanation for why this might pose a small problem for our family values champion. (Notably, as a House member, Stanley introduced a bill prohibiting the showing of pornographic materials in a moving vehicle. Don't ask us to explain why.) Now a blackmail victim, Stanley went to the TBI, and they set up Watts. Stanley met his blackmailer behind the El Rey Azteca Mexican restaurant in Whites Creek. Where else?
So this Defender Of Children was not only cheating on his wife with an intern young enough to be his daughter, he had her over for a pornographic photo shoot in his own home. HAWT. Stanley is facing calls for his resignation, but some far has only given up the chairmanship of a state Senate committee.

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Jon Stewart - Most Trusted Newscaster

A TIME Magazine poll shows that Jon Stewart is America's most-trusted newscaster, now that Walter Cronkite has died. Personally, I'd put him neck-and-neck with Rachel Maddow. Brian Williams comes in second, winning the retiree-heavy states of Arizona and Florida.

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HomoQuotable - Darren Hayes

"Being gay is somehow an indulgent choice? It infuriates me. You're either Graham Norton or George Michael getting arrested in parks and I'm neither of those things. I think it appeals to the lowest common denominator that basically there are two types of gay men, the slut, or there's the straight acting guy. Neither of these things have anything to do with penises, or cocks in mouths or any of the things that are related to being gay." - Former Savage Garden lead singer Darren Hayes, speaking to Gay Times magazine about gay stereotypes on television.

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80's Flashback

Lene Lovitch's New Toy, 1981. Written by her keyboardist, Thomas Dolby. Best line: "I'm sick of the Hoover!" I think I'll make this a daily post for a while, just so we can feel all old and shit.

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Today In Mental Illness

Even though two Honolulu-based newspapers printed Barack Obama's birth announcement in 1961, the loons at World Net Daily aren't buying it. Because knowing he would one day be our president, the vast liberal conspiracy planted those birth announcements 47 years in advance. Or something.

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Romania Bans Same-Sex Marriage

The Alliance Defense Fund, a U.S.-based anti-gay group, claims to have guided Romania's parliament to a ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions.
Roger Kiska, a member of Alliance Defense Fund's legal counsel, is stationed in Europe. He tells OneNewsNow that Romania adopted a strong civil code enshrining traditional marriage in law. "It's defined throughout the code -- spouse as between a man and a woman," he explains. "It forbids these backdoor, so-called same-sex 'marriages' where Romanian citizens or foreigners come into the country and ask that their marriage be recognized by the country. It also does the same with civil unions." Alliance Defense Fund played a prominent role in assisting supporters in the Romanian parliament. "Through Peter Costea, who is one of our allied attorneys and the head of Alliance for Romanian Families, who's been doing excellent work in Romania, got these provisions enacted in the law," Kiska points out, "and we're just happy to see in Europe these types of protections being afforded to marriage."
In May skinheads demonstrated in Bucharest in a "normality march" to protest gay Pride. The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2010.

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Worse Than Coach

Discount Irish airline Ryanair made the news last week when they suggested they might start selling standing-only tickets for some of their shorter flights. A poll of the airline's customers shows that almost half of their passengers would be willing to stand if the fare were cut by 50%.
Under the proposal, passengers would lean on a stool or ledge and wear a seatbelt during take off and landing. Passengers would still have to pay taxes and charges imposed by governments or airport operators. The online poll showed 42 per cent of passengers would stand if the fare was halved compared to 58 per cent who wanted a seat. Asked if passengers should have a choice of standing on short flights as they do on trains, buses and other transport, 60 per cent said yes and 40 per cent said no. Ryanair this year abandoned plans for a "fat tax" on obese passengers, because it would slow down check-in procedures. The airline has been criticised for considering other money-making schemes including charging people to go to the toilet.
I'd probably be willing to stand on a hop to Boston or DC. But not much farther.

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Current TV Looks At Gay Republicans

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Missing SIV-HIV Link Found

Researchers believe they have found an important missing link in the study of simian AIDS, a discovery with implications for human research. Up until now, scientists had believed that the 40+ known strains of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) did not make the animals ill. But two colonies of chimpanzees infected with a particular strain of SIV have been found to have death rates more than 10x higher than groups infected with other strains. From the rather technical article in Nature:
By following 94 members of two habituated chimpanzee communities in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, for over 9 years, we found a 10- to 16-fold higher age-corrected death hazard for SIVcpz-infected (n = 17) compared to uninfected (n = 77) chimpanzees. We also found that SIVcpz-infected females were less likely to give birth and had a higher infant mortality rate than uninfected females. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization of post-mortem spleen and lymph node samples from three infected and two uninfected chimpanzees revealed significant CD4+ T-cell depletion in all infected individuals, with evidence of high viral replication and extensive follicular dendritic cell virus trapping in one of them. One female, who died within 3 years of acquiring SIVcpz, had histopathological findings consistent with end-stage AIDS. These results indicate that SIVcpz, like HIV-1, is associated with progressive CD4+ T-cell loss, lymphatic tissue destruction and premature death. These findings challenge the prevailing view that all natural SIV infections are non-pathogenic and suggest that SIVcpz has a substantial negative impact on the health, reproduction and lifespan of chimpanzees in the wild.
SIVcpz is the immediate precursor of HIV-1, the strain that affects most people in the world (outside of western Africa). Understanding how SIVcpz makes chimpanzees ill may provide important clues for HIV research in humans. SIV is believed to have spread to humans in west-central Africa about 100 years ago via infected monkeys, either by contact with the blood of the animals or by the consumption of infected simian meat. Viral sequencing suggests human infection may have begun as early at 1884. Many decades later the disease was able to spread widely among humans due to the new ease of global travel.

(Tipped by JMG reader Bob)

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Open Thread Thursday

I was watching an old Twilight Zone (or something) the other night in which people could elect to learn the exact date of their future natural deaths, just in case they didn't want to go on burdening a crumbling society and decided to end it all now by their own hands. If you could find out your expiration date, would you want to?

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

2010 NYC Firefighters Calendar

The 2010 Firefighters Of New York calendar is out.
Times Square was on fire Tuesday night as 13 smoking hot firefighters unveiled the 2010 calendar to benefit a city burn center. "They're really hot!" gushed Allyson Shankmann, 23, of Queens. "I want to start a fire, I was thinking about lighting a match so they can come put it out. They're so hot! I like January and March ... and August." Proceeds from the calendar go to the Staten Island University Hospital Burn Center. This year's cover is Chad Stertefeldt, a 26-year-old Brooklyn firefighter.
You'll note that the calendar's makers cannot call it the "FDNY Calendar." That's because two years ago the city pulled their official authorization after one of the 2008 models was revealed to have shown off his massive hose in an episode of Guys Gone Wild. That clip is still online, so if you are one of those rare gay men who enjoy extremely hung naked fireman porn, go here. NSFW, obviously. Purchase this year's calendar here.

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Ruben Diaz Jr. On His Father

Andres Duque at Blabbeando has translated an interview with Ruben Diaz, Jr., the Bronx president and son of New York Homophobe #1, state Sen. Ruben Diaz, the man credited with putting a stop to marriage equality. Junior says he loves his father, but believes in the separation of church and state. Diaz Sr.: "I am the church AND the state. I cannot separate me from myself."

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Charlie Crist Softens

The Tallahassee Democrat reports that FL Gov. Charlie Crist is "softening." But this time it's not because his beard is getting amorous.
Launching a whirlwind tour to promote "Explore Adoption Day," Gov. Charlie Crist appeared to soften his stance this morning against allowing gays to do just that. Civil rights advocates blasted Crist earlier in the week for encouraging adoption while his administration is in court defending a 1977 law that makes Florida the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption. Now a candidate for U.S. Senate, Crist hinted today that he might support lifting the ban. At first, Crist said it would be the Legislature's responsibility to change the law. When pressed on whether he would support the effort, Crist said, "I'd have to think about it." Robert Rosenwald, an attorney for ACLU who is challenging the law, was cautiously optimistic. "He's always said in the past that he supports the ban," Rosenwald said. "The fact that the governor is now willing to reconsider the issue, we can work with that."
Last week a Miami judge who found the ban on gay adoption to be unconstitutional was demoted by the state's chief justice. The state is appealing her decision and the ban remains in place.

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The Naked Mayor

Yesterday I mentioned that NYC's Naked Cowboy is running for mayor. His plans for the city include a Times Square wedding chapel so that when gay marriage is legal, the city will rival Las Vegas in wedding business. Here's his pitch.

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The Blowdryer Of Reason

In March I blogged about the Certificate of Debaptism and mentioned that I'd like to be removed from the baptism records of Annunciation Parish in Havelock, North Carolina, something I'm still working on. Meanwhile, USA Today tells us about an amusing debaptism ceremony taking place at some atheist conventions.
Up until last summer, Jennifer Gray of Columbus, Ohio, considered herself "a weak Christian" whose baptism at age 11 in a Kentucky church came to mean less and less to her as she gradually lost faith in God. Then the 32-year-old medical transcriptionist took a decisive step, one that previously hadn't been available. She got "de-baptized." In a type of mock ceremony that's now been performed in at least four states, a robed "priest" used a hairdryer marked "reason" in an apparent bid to blow away the waters of baptism once and for all. Several dozen participants then fed on a "de-sacrament" (crackers with peanut butter) and received certificates assuring they had "freely renounced a previous mistake, and accepted Reason over Superstition." For Gray, the lighthearted spirit of last summer's Atheist Coming Out Party and De-Baptism Bash in suburban Westerville, Ohio, served a higher purpose than merely spoofing a Christian rite. "It was very therapeutic," Gray said in an interview. "It was a chance to laugh at the silly things I used to believe as a child. It helped me admit that it was OK to think the way I think and to not have any religious beliefs."
The article notes that while 100,000 Brits have downloaded the debaptism certificate, holding ceremonies such as the above appears to be a purely American phenomenon. Video here. According to most denominations, however, Christian baptism is like the mafia. Once you're in, you're in.

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Anti-Gay Catholic Cultists In White Plains

Catholic cultists the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property brought their red capes to White Plains the other day, where they ran into the below supporter. Watch until the end when what they call a "feminazi" slams their camera.

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TN State Sen. Paul "Defender Of Marriage" Stanley Blackmailed For Adultery

Tennessee GOP state Sen. Paul Stanley, the architect of that state's failed ban on gay adoption, went to the authorities to complain that the husband of his mistress was blackmailing him. Boo hoo. Stanley was cheating with a subordinate half his age.
“Unfortunately, I am the victim and a witness to a crime in an ongoing investigation. At this time, I have been advised by authorities and the District Attorney’s office not to comment. There is already misinformation being inferred regarding this matter which I look forward to clearing up at the appropriate time,” Stanley said in a statement. Interesting phrasing. Of course, we don’t know what happened or didn’t happen exactly. All we know that instead of telling the blackmailer that his bluff was called and to do his worst, he called the TBI. Instead of proclaiming his innocence and his martial fidelity on camera to get in front of the story, he hid behind a written statement. While the words in his statement say innocent, his actions say guilty. If Stanley did transgress in any way with this woman, if he put himself in the position to be blackmailed, he should not be sending out statements calling himself a victim. He should not be simply resigning his committee chairmanship. He should be resigning from his seat in the state Senate.
Stanley tried to ban gay adoption in Tennessee by authoring a bill requiring that all adoptive parents be legally married. The state attorney general decided that Stanley's bill was unconstitutional.

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Drive-By Barneys

Barney's, who is arguably Gotham's most famed fancy clothier, hurriedly removed their latest window displays after customers and passers-by objected to scenes depicting female mannequins being strafed by bullets.
Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys, said the displays were installed while he was away overseeing advertising shoots and that he had ordered them dismantled. They were taken down shortly after the Daily News called to inquire about them yesterday afternoon. "We encourage our display people to be creative. We give them a lot of latitude, but this clearly crossed the line," he said. "It's as if someone saw a bad Hitchcock movie."
The outfits were to die for! Rimshot!

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Maine Seems Poised For A November Vote On Marriage Equality Repeal

The Family Research Council says their petition gatherers have nearly twice as many names as needed to get a repeal of marriage equality put on the November ballot. They have until the end of the month to submit their signatures.
Needing roughly 56,000 petition signatures to place a "People's Veto" of this legislation on the November ballot, the pro-marriage coalition has exceeded all expectations by collecting over 90,000 and counting. Pastor Bob Emrich, whom we honored with the Watchmen Pastor award a couple of years ago, is helping guide a statewide grassroots coalition to gather the signatures. Emrich and StandforMarriageMaine.com want to submit these signatures to the Secretary of State by July 31, but he had this to say: "I am finding it difficult to get people to stop collecting signatures and send me their petitions so we can get them processed."
(Via - Good As You)

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Bike Messenger Vs. Pedestrian

An ugly incident involving a bike messenger and a pedestrian has spurred a heated discussion over on Gothamist and on NYC's bike enthusiast sites. Apparently the messenger was turning right into a crosswalk where pedestrians had the right of way. What happened next depends on your point of view (and probably, your opinion of bike messengers.) Warning for violence.

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Kissing Is Contagious

There will be a kiss-in at the Mormon Temple near La Jolla, California tonight in support of the recent incident in Salt Lake City.

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No Federal Money For Divers/Cite

Early this month, a $400K donation to Toronto Pride by the Canadian federal government was criticized by conservatives, resulting in the disciplining of a member of parliament who posed with drag queens during a check presentation ceremony. Now the feds say they have no money for Divers/Cite, Montreal's giant gay arts week.
An Industry Canada spokeswoman says there are just too many worthwhile events and not everyone can get government funding. That's the e-mail explanation from Christiane Fox on why the Conservative government rejected a bid for funding by a major Quebec arts festival geared towards gays and lesbians. The directors of Divers/Cite in Montreal say they were told by bureaucrats that their funding request met all the criteria, and the final approval was with industry minister Tony Clement. But on Monday, they were told the government had rejected their request for $155,000. Divers/Cite features gay and lesbian performers from around the world, and brings in around 55,000 visitors. The festival runs from Jul. 26 until Aug. 2.

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Equality: You're Doing It Wrong

GREAT ad for Australian marriage equality. Go to Equal Love for more info about the movement.

(Tipped by JMG reader Tony)

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The Little Nazi

Prosecutors say that Brandon McInerney killed gay teen Lawrence King in part because of the influence of neo-Nazis who had befriended him. A notebook filled with Nazi-related drawings was found in the 15 year-old's bedroom.
"The evidence strongly indicates he had been indoctrinated to some level," said Dan Swanson, a Simi Valley police detective and specialist in neo-Nazi gangs. On the second day of McInerney's preliminary hearing in Ventura County Superior Court, Swanson discounted earlier testimony that McInerney had black and Latino friends at school, contending that white supremacists are accustomed to hiding their true beliefs. A search of McInerney's bedroom and backpack yielded the notebook, seven of Hitler's speeches translated into English and a book about SS troopers who had been former members of the Hitler Youth. The collection reflected an interest in the Nazis that was far more profound than the World War II book report McInerney had been assigned, the investigator testified. Swanson said the teenager's family was friendly with a white supremacist in Oxnard's Silver Strand area. The man told Swanson that he and his girlfriend allowed McInerney to sleep in their apartment a night or two before the shooting.
McInerney is being tried as an adult for first degree murder. In March his father was found dead in the family home.

RELATED: If you've lost track of the details or if this case is new to you, my archive of stories about the murder of Lawrence King is here.

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Palin Ethics Probe #19

The savior of the GOP just keeps digging a deeper hole.
An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by trading on her position in seeking money for legal fees, in the latest legal distraction for the former vice presidential candidate as she prepares to leave office this week. The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters. An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund.
Most of the previous ethics violations charges against Palin have been dismissed.

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McCain Mad About Hate Crimes Act

And he finds a sympathetic audience in the Fox hosts. Of course.

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2nd Ave Subway Pushed Back Two Years

We're two years into the digging of the Second Avenue subway and now the MTA says it won't open until 2017. Maybe.
The conclusion: the official completion date for phase one of the project should be pushed from June 2015 to December 2016, with possible future delays placing the opening in the summer of 2017, the sources said. And, the Long Island Rail Road's extension to Grand Central Terminal - most recently set to be finished in February 2015 - is now expected to be ready for use in September 2016, according to sources familiar with the analysis.
At least the first phase to open includes the stop on my corner! I'll meet you downtown in eight years.

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Chris Matthews Vs. GOP Birther

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Best & Worst Airports To Sleep In

According to the Guide To Sleeping In Airports...

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Sister Of Tony Winner Norbert Leo Butz Killed In Possible Hate Crime

The lesbian sister of Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz (left) was stabbed to death in her Seattle-area home on Sunday. Police are investigating the murder as a possible hate crime.
Teresa Butz, 39, was stabbed along with her partner, a 36-year-old woman who was released Monday from Harborview Medical Center. The attacker, who entered through an open window, remains at large. The couple "were just about to get married," said neighbor Christine Cherif. Seattle police through most of Monday continued to call the attack random, but officials Monday night said it's too early to rule out a hate crime and that the sexual-minority task force has taken an interest in the case. Interim Police Chief John Diaz said the 3 a.m. attack at the house in the 700 block of South Rose Street was the most brutal crime he and his officers have seen in some time and vowed to put every available resource into catching the man.
Norbert Butz, who won the 2006 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical, was in Seattle at the time of the murder, rehearsing the Broadway-bound musical version of Catch Me If You Can. The opening of the show has been postponed.

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Sen. Sam Brownback: We Don't Want Man-Beasts Or She-Fishes!

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), upset about all those centaurs ravaging the Kansas plains, has submitted a bill banning the creation of animal-human hybrids. From the hilarious Jeff Vrabel:
Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and the dark side of Neptune and 2008 presidential candidate for exactly 24 minutes (less time than Fred Thompson, just in case you were worried that was impossible), introduced legislation banning the creation of terrifying-sounding ANIMAL-HUMAN HYBRIDS, such as mermaids, or Perez Hilton. “Creating human-animal hybrids, which permanently alter the genetic makeup of an organism, will challenge the very definition of what it means to be human and is a violation of human dignity and a grave injustice," Brownback said, adding, "A PLANET WHERE APES EVOLVED FROM MAN?" Needless to say, this story has caused about 80 percent of political bloggers to lose their Red Bulled minds in near-hysteric glee, though nearly all of their joke-posts were decorated with an image of the Little Mermaid, which doesn't do much to deny the obvious suspicion that people who spend their lives sitting in front of a computers would read "human-animal hybrid" and immediately think "hot shirtless teen mermaid" (a phrase which, incidentally, is going to send this column's Google hits into FREAKING ORBIT).
Won't somebody please think about the furries?

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BREAKING: Oklahoma Baptists Suspend Ten Commandments!

Last month OK state Rep. Sally Kern issued her Proclamation For Morality, a hateful resolution that blamed gays, among others, for the decline of the U.S. economy. The resolution has not been adopted, but according to a blog called The Lost Ogle, that didn't stop the Baptist Messenger from forging the signatures of the governor and the secretary of state onto the document.
Yep. The Baptist Messenger — an established weekly newspaper with a paid circulation of over 85,000—decided to photoshop Governor Henry’s signature on the embarrassing and archaic “Proclamation for Morality.” And to try and make the piece of right wing trash look even more legitimate, they placed the text of proclamation onto Executive Department letterhead and forged the signature of Secretary of State M. Susan Savage next to the state seal of Oklahoma.

Yeah, this is scandalous. And yeah, this is wrong. But know how it makes me feel? It makes me wish I was Baptist. These people can get away with anything! They can forge our Governor’s signature to a document, buy influence key elections and even hijack every Braum’s in the state on Wednesday nights. It’s just too much power for one group to have, and I want a part of it. Seriously, think of all the fun we could have if we were Southern Baptists. We’d be unstoppable!
There have got to be some legal repercussions for doing this, right? Don't hold your breath. The Liars For Christ™ will shrug this off.

UPDATE: The Baptist Messenger has issued an apology.
In the July 16 Messenger, the graphic representation of the Oklahoma Citizen’s Proclamation for Morality was misleading, indicating that Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry and Secretary of State Susan Savage had signed the document. This is not the case, and the Messenger staff apologizes for the oversight and error.
"Misleading." Rather than "what we published was an outright lie and forgery." Shrugged off, as predicted.

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Haters To Turn In Petitions To Repeal Domestic Partners Law In Washington

Anti-gay activists say they have collected the required signatures to put a repeal of Washington state's new domestic partners law on the November ballot. The law is set to go into effect on Sunday unless the petitions are valid and submitted by Saturday.
Dave Ammons, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said R-71 sponsors didn't say how many signatures how many they expect to bring in. They'll need 120,577 valid voter signatures (4 percent of last year's vote for governor) to qualify for the fall ballot. Election officials suggest referendum sponsors submit about 150,000 signatures to offset any invalid ones. If the referendum is submitted, Ammons said the new law will not go into effect on Sunday, as it normally would. If R-71 goes onto the ballot, the law will be on hold until the vote is held Nov. 3. If it passes, the law would take effect after the vote is certified in December. If the law is rejected, it will not go into effect. If the referendum does not qualify for the ballot, Ammons said the law would take effect immediately.
The Christian groups behind the repeal drive have engaged in their now-familiar deceptive practices in Washington, often telling outrageous falsehoods to the people they approached with their clipboards. Which is legal. And standard practice for the Liars For Christ™.

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Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc

Pet Shop Boys score their 9th Billboard dance #1 in the U.S. this week with Love Etc, stretching their run on that chart to almost 25 years. The disco-tinged duo has notched 24 top ten dance singles here, but their best tally is on the UK pop singles chart, where 44 singles have hit the top 40. Last night they performed their latest hit on Israeli Pop Idol.

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Hedda Lettuce - Botox Face

NYC drag legend Hedda Lettuce takes on Lady Gaga. Audio NSFW.

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Sounds About Right

According to a widget created by Stockholm Pride, my Twitter feed is 1% hetero. I'll try to do better. Or worse, depending on how you look at it. Stockholm Pride is July 27th - August 2nd.

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Senate Strips F-22 Funding From DoD Bill

The U.S. Senate just voted to strip funding for the F-22 fighter jet from the defense appropriations bill to which the Matthew Shepard Act is attached, clearing the way for President Obama to sign it. The bill continues to be discussed and tomorrow the Senate will vote on whether to remove another unrelated amendment, one that permits gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines. And on and on it goes....

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Birthers Gone Wild

Another birther nut went off on Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) last week, screaming, "I want my country back." Castle assured the woman that the president is indeed a U.S. citizen, but she would not STFU and demanded that the audience stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. Which they did.

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Naked Cowboy Running For NYC Mayor

NYC's most famous busker, the Naked Cowboy, is running for mayor.
"The Naked Cowboy" plans to run against Mayor Bloomberg on a platform of "bringing transparency to a whole new level." A fixture in Times Square for a decade, Robert Burck has made a profitable business from strumming a guitar dressed only in cowboy boots and hat and tight-fitting white briefs, asking tourists to pay a fee to take a picture with him. He travels widely marketing products ranging from underwear to comics. "No one knows how to do more with less than yours truly, and that's the kind of thinking I plan on sharing with my fellow New Yorkers when you elect me," he said, promising new ideas on tax breaks, tourism, gay marriage, transit and homeland security.
When my friends from the UK visited NYC recently, they were more impressed with the Naked Cowboy and that guy with the cat on his head than anything else. Go figure.

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Filthy Disease Ridden Queer

The above appellation is one of the most frequently used by God's gentle people at Free Republic. But JMG reader Joanna noticed that in a recent post about the Mormon kiss-in, forum moderators removed numerous posts and warned, "Anyone who uses FDRQ again will get a day or more off."

Free Republic was stung last week by widely republished racist comments about the Obama daughters, resulting in much internal discussion about comment moderation. But many members also claimed the racist comments were "planted" by their enemies. We'll see if the "FDRQ" edict lasts.

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ACLU Opposes Senate Hate Crimes Bill

Well, this is interesting. The ACLU says that the Senate version of the hate crimes act does not protect free speech as vigorously as the House version and wants the Senate to adopt the other chamber's bill.
In its July 17 statement, the ACLU says the Senate hate crimes measure, set to be an amendment to the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill, lacks "the strong protections for speech and association" found in the House version of the legislation that lawmakers in that chamber approved in June. The Senate approved a motion for cloture on the hate crimes amendment late Thursday night, 63-28. Final passage of the amendment was expected Monday, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

The amendment is identical in language to the hate crimes measure Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced earlier this year. It would allow the Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of hate crimes committed against LGBT people that result in death or serious injury. The ACLU instead calls for the passage of the House version of the hate crimes bill. Chris Anders, ACLU's senior legislative counsel, said in the statement that ACLU's experience has been that "the fight for better and stronger civil rights protections is more successful when free speech and association are protected along the way."
The Human Rights Campaign disputes the ACLU's position, saying each version of the bill does "contain explicit language protecting speech and association."

RELATED: All three of the amendments to the bill proposed by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) were adopted yesterday.

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David Mixner: No Waiting

Former Clinton White House advisor David Mixner doesn't want to wait until 2012 to challenge Prop 8 at the ballot.
The cabal of powerful decision makers wants everything to be safe, clean and perfect before moving. Don't upset anyone, don't jump ahead of ourselves and most of all don't deviate from a well-laid plan that hopefully will eventually lead to victory. Every one of our allies has to be comfortable, the polls have to show us way ahead, and proof of victory has to be assured before trying anything new. The unpredictable grassroots could be destructive and create instability.

Sounds pretty good doesn't it? Except that it doesn't fit any model of success that I have seen in my near 50 years of organizing. In fact, my journey has proven to me that the unpredictable often is just the stimulus that movements need; victory often comes from an unplanned event that organizers could not have pulled off if they had worked years to do it. Most candidates would never be elected to office if they waited for their turn, had hard proof of victory and listened to the political pros. Our own current president is a perfect example of this fact.
Read Mixner's entire essay.

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