Watching The Defectives

Gentle readers, I'm rerunning my annual Pride rant for the sixth year. I wrote this post in 2005 a couple of days after attending Pride here in NYC. In the following years I've reposted it in advance of the day in the hope of encouraging you to attend. My apologies to those that have read it before. Have a wonderful Pride. Love each other.

Watching The Defectives

Last Sunday at 12:30pm, I was in position on Christopher Street with Terrence, his glamor boys, and touring UK bloggers Dave and Darren. The Pride parade was due to round the corner any minute, but I tore off in search of a bodega, crossing my fingers that my desperate need for a soda wouldn't cause me to miss Dykes On Bikes. Half a block away, I found a little place and ducked in, weaving through the customers clogging the aisles on rushed missions like mine. I was third in line, two bottles of Sprite under my arm, when the man in front of me spotted a friend entering the store.

"David! Sweetie! Where are you watching from? Come hang out with us on Allen's balcony!"

David, a bookish looking middle-aged man, destroyed the festive mood in the little store in an instant. "Absolutely not. Those defectives and freaks?" he spat, indicating the colorful crowd outside the store, "They have nothing to do with MY life, thank you very much. This parade has as much dignity as a carnival freak show. It's no wonder the whole country hates us."

Luckily for David, the Asshole Killer mind ray I've been working on is not yet operational. I settled for pushing him a little, just a tiny bit, just to get by him in that narrow aisle, of course. I returned to my sweaty little group and tried to put what I'd heard out of my mind for the remainder of the day, because I knew that by the next morning, the thousands of Davids of the world, the ones who have media access anyway, would all issue their now familiar day-after-Pride rant. The one where they decry the drag queens on all those newspaper front pages. The one where they beat their chests and lament, "Why don't the papers ever show the NORMAL gay people? Where are the bankers and lawyers? Why must all the coverage be drag queens and leather freaks in assless chaps?"

And every year, the logical answer is that bankers and lawyers are boring to look at and that pictures of marching Gap employees don't sell newspapers. There's no sinister media agenda intent on making gay people look ridiculous, no fag-hating cabal behind the annual front page explosion of sequins and feathers. It's just good copy. Drag queens are interesting. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.

Yet right on cue, the day after Pride, the Davids of the blogosphere dished out their heavy-handed dissections of parades around the country. Only this year, there was a palpably nastier tone to an already traditionally nasty annual debate. Blame the election, blame the recent avalanche of anti-gay legislation, but this year, the usual assimilationist arguments went beyond the hypothetical speculations that maybe our Pride parades were too outlandish, that maybe we weren't doing the movement any favors by showing the country a face that happened to be wearing 6-inch long false eyelashes. This year there was some actual discussion about HOW we were going to "fix" Pride parades. Of how we might go about "discouraging" certain "elements" from taking part in the parades.

This is the part of the story where I have my annual post-Pride apoplectic attack. This is the part of the story where the swelling volume of Nazi analogies overwhelm my ability to speak and all I can do is twitch and bark out little nonsensical bits. This is where I always forget the name given to the Jews who went to work for the Nazis, helping load the trains. "Because that's what you are asking us to do, you assholes!" Then I always ask, "Who are we going to sacrifice to 'save' ourselves? Which child will it be, Sophie?" And this is the part of the story where my friends accuse me of being a hyperbole-laden drama queen, wasting spiritual energy on a non-crisis, and of co-opting the Holocaust as well. More on that later.

These people that want to "fix" Pride don't understand the role that Pride parades have come to play. Initially, the gay parade was about visibility. It was about safety in numbers, and more importantly, "normalcy" in numbers. It was about the idea that if only straight America could see us, could just SEE US, that they'd love us. And accept us. That if we'd mass and march by the righteous millions, the sheer unstoppable force of our collective image would topple bigotry. Would right wrongs. Would stop hate.

Of course, that didn't happen then and it doesn't happen now.

What DOES happen, is that Pride parades, at least in the big cities, have become nothing more significant to straight America than an annual traffic nightmare. As a tool of the gay movement, the Pride parade is now merely a walking photo op for politicians and perhaps not much more. A couple of years ago, the ultimate arbiter of America's cultural zeitgeist, The Simpsons, made note of this:

(The gay pride parade is going past the Simpson house.)

Chanting marchers: "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!"

Lisa Simpson: "You're here every year. We ARE used to it."

What does all of this mean to the Davids of the world, the gay assimilationists that want to, wish they could, somebody do something, there's gotta be a way we can, Dignify This Parade? The ones begging: "Can't we get our people to at least DRESS respectfully for one lousy day? Is that too much to ask of our people? "

Yes, yes it is.

Because you are kidding yourself if you think Pride parades, in any form, will EVER change the minds of homophobes. The straight people who show up to see Pride parades are already largely convinced. We're parading to the choir, Jesse. Those straight people love our freaks, bless them.

Oh, you could test run a "defective" free parade. You could form urban anti-tranny squads and go around to all the gayborhoods on the morning of the parade and give all the drag queens 50% off coupons for Loehmann's, offer good during the parade only. And they'd GO, of course, cuz hey, those girls love a bargain. But the resultant bland, humorless, "normal" gay parade wouldn't change the course of the gay movement one bit. The part of straight America that is repulsed by drag queens is quite possibly even more terrified by the so-called "normal" gays, because "those clever calculating creatures look JUST LIKE US, and can infiltrate and get access to our precious children. And that's been their disgusting plan all along, of course."

So where does that leave us? Are we post-Pride? Is the parade just a colossally long waste of a miserably hot summer day? Is the Pride parade just an event that does a better job of moving chicken-on-a-stick than it does of moving hearts? I'd say that, yes, as an effective tool of the gay movement, Pride's usefulness has largely waned in many U.S. cities. So do we even need to keep having these parades, since they no longer seem to have much of an impact on the state of the movement? No, we don't.

But...YES, WE DO.

Because even if Pride doesn't change many minds in the outside world, it's our PARTY, darlings. It's our Christmas, our New Year's, our Carnival. It's the one day of the year that all the crazy contingents of the gay world actually come face to face on the street and blow each other air kisses. And wish each other "Happy Pride!" Saying "Happy Pride!" is really just a shorter, easier way of saying "Congratulations on not being driven completely batshit insane! Way to go for not taking a rifle into a tower and taking out half the town! Well done, being YOURSELF!"

I'm not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It's OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our "debauched" celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING.

All you suburban, lawn mowing, corpo-droid homos out there, hiding behind your picket fences, the ones wringing your hands and worrying that Pride ruins YOUR personal rep, listen up. Do you think that straight Americans worry that Mardi Gras damages international perception of American culture? America, land of the free, home of "Show Us Your Tits!"? They don't and neither should we. Our Pride celebrations are just our own unique version of Mardi Gras, only instead of throwing beads, we throw shade. No one has to ask US to show our tits. We've already got 'em out there, baby. And some of them are real.

A co-worker of mine heard me discussing my Pride plans last weekend and said, "I really don't understand what it is you are proud about. I mean, you all say that you are born that way, so it's not like you accomplished anything." She wasn't being mean, just genuinely curious, and I think that a lot of gay people probably feel the same way. On this subject, I can only speak for myself.

I'm proud because I'm a middle-aged gay man who has more dead friends than living ones and yet I'm not completely insane. I've lived through a personal Holocaust (here we go again) in which my friends and lovers have been mowed down as thoroughly and randomly as the S.S guards moved down the line of Jews. You, dead. You, to the factory. And you, you, you, and you, dead. I am inexplicably alive and I am proud that I keep the memories of my friends alive. I am proud of my people, the ACT-UPers, the Quilt makers, the Larry Kramers, the Harvey Fiersteins. I'm proud that I'm not constantly curled up into a ball on my bed, clutching photo albums and sobbing. And that happens sometimes, believe it.

And outside of my personal experiences, I am proud of my tribe as a group. Sometimes I think that gay people are more creative, more empathic, more intuitive, more generous, and more selfless than anybody else on the planet. Sometimes I think that if an alien culture were surveying our planet from light years away, they might classify gay people as an entirely separate species of humans. It's easy to spot us because of our better haircuts.

But sometimes I think we are the worst people in the entire world when it comes to standing up for each other. The gay people who'd like to soothe their personal image problems by selectively culling some of our children from Pride events? They disgust me. They appall me. They embarrass me. To them I say: The very road that YOU now have the privilege of swaggering upon was paved by those very queens and leather freaks that you complain about as you practice your "masculine" and give us butch face. If you want to live in the house that THEY BUILT, you better act like you fucking know it. United we stand, you snide bitches. America's kulturkampf ain't gonna be solved by making flamboyant people go away.

I'll end this by making one final Jewish reference. Possibly you've heard the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." My Pride version?

They wish we were invisible.

We're not.

Let's dance.

President Obama Mentions Gay Dads In Father's Day Proclamation

As he did for gay moms in his Mother's Day message, President Obama mentions gay dads in his Father's Day proclamation. An excerpt:

Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a step father, a grandfather, or caring guardian. We owe a special debt of gratitude for those parents serving in the United States Armed Forces and their families, whose sacrifices protect the lives and liberties of all American children. For the character they build, the doors they open, and the love they provide over our lifetimes, all our fathers deserve our unending appreciation and admiration.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, in accordance with a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, as amended (36 U.S.C. 109), do hereby proclaim June 20, 2010, as Father's Day. I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on this day, and I call upon all citizens to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. Let us honor our fathers, living and deceased, with all the love and gratitude they deserve.

Father's Day is tomorrow.

More Crazy From Teabagger/GOP Senate Candidate Sharron Angle

Weekend Mix - DJ James Torres

Get your weekend pumping with this kicking vocal house mix from SF's DJ James Torres. Setlist. Podcasts. Facebook.

UPCOMING GIGS
GhettoDisco@ End Up, San Francisco, June 18th
Main Stage @ SF Pride, San Francisco, June 27th
Main Stage @ Up Your Alley, San Francisco, July 25th
Main Stage @ Folsom Street Fair, San Francisco, Sept. 29th

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: DJ Bill Pfeiffer. DJ Mike "Monk" Ponsades. DJ Steve Sherwood. DJ Pete Savas. DJ Jeff Jackson & DJ Disco Connie. DJ Phillip Kimball. DJ Paul Ferrer. DJ Shane Stiel. DJ Paul Goodyear. DJ Susan Morabito. DJ Seymour Butz. DJ RuBot. DJ Rotten Robbie. DJ Ted Eiel. DJ Herbie James. DJ David Knapp. DJ Dave Huge. DJ Corey Craig.

HAWAII: Governor Linda Lingle To Put Civil Unions Bill On Potential Veto List

According to Hawaii's anti-gay Lt. Gov. James Aiona, his boss is going to put the state's pending civil unions bill on the potential veto list on Monday.

Aiona said that does not mean the governor will veto the bill that would give all the rights of marriage under Hawaii law to same sex and heterosexual couples. "It will be a potential veto and the governor right now is crafting her decision as to whether of not she will or will not veto that bill. Some, we will find out. The deadline for that is July 6," Aiona said. The governor's potential veto list is to inform lawmakers of bill that might be vetoed to give them time to determine if they want to override her vetoes.

Hawaiian evangelists and the Honolulu Catholic Diocese have been furiously lobbying Lingle ever since the legislature approved civil unions in a surprise last minute vote in the final hours of this year's session.

(Tipped by JMG reader Rian)

Concerned Catholics Are Concerned About Pro-Gay Knights Of Columbus

Calling it a "scandal" that "pro-homosexual politicians" are not expelled from the Knights of Columbus, the Concerned Catholics of America are calling on attendees of an upcoming convention to demand just that. Oh, and everyone in charge should resign.

For all their good works, the Knights' national leadership stubbornly harbors enemies of unborn babies and man-woman marriage. This past January 13, Supreme Advocate John Marrella, without any legal basis, directed that members and state and local councils must not contact politicians about matters of faith and morals, except as "private citizens." What's more, this past April 15, contrary to the Knights' Charter Constitution and Laws, Marrella ordered that "...a subordinate council may not impose fraternal discipline with respect to a public figure's official actions on matters pertaining to faith and morals." Past Supreme Knight Virgil Dechant once insisted that pro-abortion politicians will "never" be expelled, and Supreme Treasurer Emilio Moure sabotaged a California Knights' pro-life resolution. Join us in demanding that the Knights expel pro-abortion and pro-homosexual politicians, and that Anderson, Marrella, and Moure reform or resign now.

The group includes Emperor Palpatine's email address in their complaint form.

BP Dumps CEO Tony Heyward From Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Team

Now that BP CEO Tony Heyward has rightfully become the punching bag of the worldwide press, the oil giant is booting him out of their cleanup operation. And very interestingly, the new guy is an American.

A day after Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, was pummeled by members of a House committee over the company’s role in the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the chairman of the company said in an interview that Mr. Hayward would step away from daily involvement in BP’s enormous response efforts in the gulf. Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chairman of BP, told Sky News that after eight weeks of being on the scene, Mr. Hayward “is now handing over the operations, the daily operations, to Bob Dudley.”

He referred to Robert Dudley, an American oil executive who has been a managing director of BP since 2009. Over five hours of testimony to the oversight and investigations panel of the Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, Mr. Hayward repeatedly said he had no direct knowledge of the company’s safety decisions in connection with the stricken well, and refused to speculate about the causes of the oil spill before a company investigation of the accident is completed. His sidestepping of basic questions angered lawmakers, who told him that he was “stonewalling” the committee. Mr. Svanberg, who spoke for the company after a delegation of executives met with President Obama and his aides at the White House on Wednesday, acknowledged that Mr. Hayward has struggled in the public’s perception. “It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people,” Mr. Svanberg said to Sky News.

Maybe BP thinks the U.S. public and press will treat an American better.

Tweet Of The Day - Gay Patriot

CONNECTICUT: Nation's Oldest Gay Bar To Close After 71 Years

The Cedar Brook Cafe in Westport, Connecticut, thought to be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States, is closing after 71 years.

Clem Bellairs, who has owned the club for 12 years, said his reasons for closing the Cedar Brook were financial. "The landlord died and the people who bought it doubled my rent," he said. "I can't afford it anymore." Bellairs, 57, bought the club in 1998 after going there since he was 21. "It was closing down and they were going to turn it into a strip mall," he said. "I wanted to see it stay alive." According to Dan Woog, author of School's Out: The Impact of Gay and Lesbian Issues on America's Schools, the Cedar Brook has played an important role within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community for many years. "In the early days, when bars were the only place gay people could congregate, it was a refuge," he said. "In the 1970s, when gay people came out more publicly, it was the center of Fairfield County gay life. In the 1980s, when more women started going, it helped bring the gay and lesbian communities closer together. Always, it was a rite of passage for young people -- for many, their first introduction to the gay community."

The bar will hold a closing party on June 26th.

(Via - The Advocate)

California Gurls Do The AIDS LifeCycle

The whole "gay boys lip-dub pop songs" meme is getting a little common, but this one is just too sweet to resist.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Hungry School Kids Should Go Dumpster Diving

Rather than take part in a socialist school lunch program.

Utah Executes Man By Firing Squad

Utah has carried out the wishes of convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner and executed him by firing squad. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court refused a request to stay the execution.

Gardner, 49, is only the third person in 33 years to die by firing squad in the United States. He was killed at 12:20 a.m. MST (2:20 a.m. ET), a Corrections Department spokesman said. A hood was placed over Gardner's head and a paper target pinned to his chest. He was heavily restrained as a five-person firing squad took aim at the target and shot him, witnesses said. Journalists who witnessed the shooting said it happend quickly. One reporter said she noticed that Gardner moved after he was shot. "It was over pretty quickly," said Cheryl Worsley, a local radio reporter. "It was cleaner than I expected. It was fast. But he moved. He moved a little bit, and to some degree that bothers me." Outside the prison in Draper Utah, there was a candlelight vigil attended by members of Gardner's family.

As I mentioned here back in April, only two other persons have been executed by firing squad since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Both executions took place in Utah. The death penalty has been abolished in 98 countries.

Texas Textbooks: What Happened And What To Do About It

People For The American Way has published an excellent dissection of the Christian right's takeover of the Texas textbook program.

The Religious Right has invested so heavily in Texas textbooks because of the national implications. School districts in Texas have to buy books from a state-approved list, and Texas is such an enormous market that textbook publishers will generally do whatever they can to get on that list. Textbooks written and edited to meet Texas standards end up being used all over the country. So Religious Right leaders in Texas can doom millions of American students to stunted, scientifically dubious science books and ideologically slanted history and social studies books. Advances in printing technology make it easier to prevent that from happening now, but it will take vigilance to keep publishers from following the path of least resistance.

The war heated up in recent years after far-right groups won a working majority on the elected state board of education and Gov. Rick Perry appointed the ringleader of the far-right faction, dentist Don McLeroy, as chair of the board in 2007. Since then, the Religious Right faction focused on standards for the approval and purchase of science textbooks for the next decade. McLeroy and his allies stripped any mention of the age of the universe from the science standards (those millions and billions of years are annoying to young-earth creationists who insist the universe is only 6,000 years old). In addition, the new standards will essentially require the teaching of evolution denialism and climate change denialism. The most recent battle, over the standards for new social studies textbooks, culminated in May with the adoption of social studies standards that give the far-right faction and its Religious Right advisors far too many victories in their efforts to replace history with ideology and turn public school classrooms into Heritage Foundation seminars.

PFAW has created a petition to the nation's publishing houses asking them to refuse Texas-created textbooks. Sign it.

LAS VEGAS: Gay Wal-Mart Worker Forced To Wear Special Vest

An 18 year-old employee at a Las Vegas area Wal-Mart says that after his bosses forced him to confirm his gayness, he was made to wear a special yellow vest and was shunned by his co-workers.

Back in March, 18-year-old Fernando Gallardo got a seasonal job at a Las Vegas Walmart, hoping to make a few extra dollars. But a few weeks into the job, Gallardo says, his immediate supervisor asked him "point-blank" in front of four of his coworkers if he was gay, and from then on alienated him from the 50 other associates at that location. "I told her yes, and after that she was very rude and short with me," he tells The Advocate. Gallardo says that soon after the incident, he was stripped of many of his daily duties and asked to wear a yellow vest and walk around the store. By mid May his supervisor and two other managers stopped talking to him completely.

Gallardo, who compares the vest to the Star of David worn by Jews during WWII, has filed a complaint with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.

Snoop Dogg - Oh Sookie

Towleroad tips us to this unexpected Snoop Dogg tribute to True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse. Some commenters on YouTube are outraged because Snoop is supposed to be a Crip, not a Blood.

OKLAHOMA: Tulsa City Council Adds Sexual Orientation Protections

Gay rights? In Oklahoma? Get out of here!

Champagne corks popped at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center on Thursday night after the City Council voted to add sexual orientation to Tulsa's nondiscrimination policy. Oklahomans for Equality members cheered and jeered at a rally as they watched councilors discuss the issue and their votes on a large-screen TV at the center. "As a gay, black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it's a monumental night," said Tracy Allen, incoming volunteer coordinator at the center. The change in policy is more in line with other large cities and will help Tulsa as it continues to grow, Allen said. "We are impressed with what we're seeing," he said. "As a city, as a whole, we are growing in the right direction." Oklahomans for Equality released a statement saying the vote marked a 35-year journey to equality, beginning with a 1975 report commissioned by then-Mayor Robert LaFortune. That report recommended that the city adopt the nondiscrimination policy.

Sally Kern must be livid. Excellent.

TRAILER: The Politics Of Pride

The Politics Of Pride has been making the festival rounds for several months and opens at San Francisco's Frameline Festival on Sunday. Other dates here.

BRITAIN: Performance Artist & Author Sebastian Horsley Dies Of Overdose

Notorious performance artist, model, and author Sebastian Horsley has been found dead of a heroin overdose in his London home.

Sebastian Horsley, the dandy, writer and artist who found fame by being nailed to a cross in the Philippines, has died at the age of 47. The colourful self-publicist was found dead at his flat in central London this morning, days after a play adapted from his memoirs – Dandy in the Underworld – opened at the Soho theatre. A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said the cause of death was unexplained but reports suggested Horsley died from a heroin overdose. In 2002 the artist traveled to the Philippines "to see what it was like" to be nailed to a cross before he embarked on a painting of the Crucifixion. The foot support on his cross gave way after he had been nailed to the wood, prompting him to remark later: "I have been punished by a God I don't believe in and he has thrown me off the cross for impersonating his son, for being an atheist, and for being a disaster. I have made a complete fool of myself." He wrote in the Observer of his fondness for having sex with prostitutes. "Prostitution is obscene, debasing and disgraceful," he concluded. "The point is, so am I."

Horsley was recently denied entrance to the United States based on a prior drug conviction. A quote from his memoir: "You may look back on your life and accept it as good or evil. But it is far, far harder to admit that you have been completely unimportant; that in the great sum of things all a man's endless grapplings are no more significant than the scuttlings of a cockroach. The universe is neither friendly nor hostile. It is merely indifferent. This makes me ecstatic."

Join Us In This Year's NYC Pride March

New York City Gay Bloggers & Digital Activists invite you to join us in this year's NYC Pride March. We had a great group last year and this year we've been promised a spot near the front of the parade. (Unlike last year when our ass-end section of the parade didn't start moving until almost 2pm.) I'll post the time and place for us to meet next Friday. You don't have to be an actual blogger to join us, so this is your excuse to finally take part in the world's oldest and (arguably) most famous gay pride parade.

RADIO: Redneck Shock Jocks Go Off On Obama's Pride Month Proclamation

Pam Spaulding tips us:

The hosts of The Rick and Bubba Show, who on-air embody all of the embarrassing redneck stereotypes about southern white men, keep it real. We're talking about Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey. They broadcast on WZZK and XM Radio (Facebook page here) and call themselves the "The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive." They went into an incredible homophobic rant about sin, adultery, fornication and everything but the kitchen sink over the fact that the President declared June Pride month.

A Facebook group calling for a boycott of the show's sponsors is here.

MONTANA: Bigots File Lawsuit To Overturn Small Town's New LGBT Rights Law

Back in April the city council of the small town of Missoula, Montana added LGBT people to its housing and employment protections. Now the idiots behind the site Not My Bathroom have filed a lawsuit against the town claiming their petition attempt to have the law repealed by referendum is being blocked.

The lawsuit says plaintiffs diligently worked to craft a valid petition but faced "discriminatory delaying tactics." The filing appears to ask the court to mandate the defendants put the ordinance on the ballot or explain why they shouldn't "perform their statutory duties." When contacted, plaintiff Tei Nash would not clarify the demands and directed calls to his attorney, who could not immediately be reached for comment. NotMyBathroom.com formed to fight the anti-discrimination ordinance, which the Missoula City Council adopted April 13. The measure protects people in the gay, lesbian and transgender community from discrimination in housing and employment. Some opponents who fought the ordinance before it was approved now want to put it on the ballot. If they had turned in enough signatures on a valid petition within 60 days of adoption, the law would have gone dark while awaiting voter response at the ballot. So the lawsuit also asks the court to stop the clock on the 60 days, "taking into account that Respondents' tactics denied Petitioners the June 8 primary voting opportunity to collect signatures."

NotMyBathroom.com claims the law should "more accurately be called the Peeping Tom Ordinance." During the debate to approve the law, the daughter of the site's creator argued against her own father before the city council, telling her dad that she had "lost all respect for you."

NEW YORK: Students Perform La Cage Aux Folles At Special Needs School

A NYC private school for special needs kids has put on a student production of La Cage Aux Folles. While the show itself is fairly G-rated, the idea of ten year-olds performing in drag has gotten the New York Post's vile Andrea Peyser screaming.

"Dad, do I have to wear a dress to school?" No joke. These conversations went on in kitchens and living rooms around the city, as a top school that educates learning-disabled and autistic children staged a student production of "La Cage aux Folles" -- a cross-dressing, limp-wristed, gay comic romp whose main characters are a pair of "married" men. As the show packs in adult audiences on Broadway with campy star Kelsey Grammer and a cast of drag queens, the kiddie version of "La Cage" was cooked up by the executive director of Child School, a private institution on Roosevelt Island that takes on youngsters from kindergarten through middle school. Some 50 children as young as 10 were cast to play screaming queens, a school assistant told me.

The father, whose boy is autistic, was horrified that his vulnerable child might be made into a spectacle. "I'm outraged!" said the dad, who did not want to be identified for fear his kid would be hurt. "They're advocating for the gay lifestyle, giving them ideas. Saying, 'It's OK. If you're having these feelings, experiment with it.'" Then came the defense, necessary in this climate. "Look, I'm not a homophobe," the father said. But as a Catholic, "I'm teaching him that straight couples screwing around is a sin. If they want to teach tolerance, do 'West Side Story.'" Better yet, "teach them reading and writing."

The second of the school's two performances of La Cage was last night. But I'll bet we haven't heard the end of this.

Another Rentboy.com Scandal?

And his rate is so reasonable! (NSFW)

Auto-Tune The News #12

The lesbian bit about Elana Kagan is pretty cute.

Visualizing The Oil Spill

An interactive map lets you compare the size of the Gulf oil spill to your part of the country. (I think the spill is actually bigger than this map shows.)

New From The NOH8 Campaign

Broadway Friday

-Neil Patrick Harris will be among 30 celebrities to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Other honorees: Joe Mantegna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Donald Sutherland, Penelope Cruz, Bruce Dern, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, The Muppets, Kenny Ortega, Ridley Scott, Sissy Spacek, Reese Witherspoon, Danny DeVito, Tina Fey, Simon Fuller, John Langley, Ed O'Neill, John Wells, Oprah Winfrey, Melissa Etheridge, Los Tigres Del Norte, Rascal Flatts, Go-Go's, Slash, Will i. Am, and Bebe & Cece Winans. Whew!

-GLAAD will host an evening at the Tony winning revival of La Cage Aux Folles on June 24th. Tickets are almost half-off with 10% of sales going to GLAAD.

-Finally? Rehearsals for the long-delayed Spider-Man: The Musical are said to be starting on August 10th. The show is said to be the most expensive in Broadway history.

-The Tony Awards will need a new home next year after 13 years at Radio City. Under consideration: the Apollo, the Beacon, and Madison Square Garden. Too small, too small, and way too big. Where's the Goldilocks house?

-The 2010 cast of Broadway Bares is releasing a CD from the show titled Openings. Get it here. Performers include Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess, Euan Morton, Mo Rocca, Christopher Sieber, and many others. Great CD review here. Broadway Bares XX: Stripopoly takes place this Sunday at the Roseland Ballroom. I'll be at the extra-raunchy midnight show!

-Broadway legends Elaine Strich and Bernadette Peters will replace Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones (respectively, of course) when Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music resumes on July 13th. The show with the current cast concludes this Sunday.

Joan Rivers On Dying

"I’ll tell you how I want to go. On stage in the middle of a set. I just want to fall off the stool in the middle of a one-hour routine. I have written instructions that I am not to be resuscitated unless I am capable of doing 60 minutes of stand up. Oh wait. I should fall off the stool after 31 minutes because they don’t pay you unless you do at least 30 minutes." - Joan Rivers, in a great interview with our own Father Tony for South Florida Gay News. The documentary Joan Rivers - A Piece Of Work is in theaters now.

TRAILER: Stonewall Uprising

I posted this trailer a couple of months ago, but I'm re-running it today because the film opened in NYC yesterday and is set to open around the country beginning tomorrow and over the next few weeks. Playdates and locations are here.

More Limp Noodleness From Florida Governor Charlie "Closet Case" Crist

In a ten-question session with TIME Magazine, FL Gov. Charlie "Closet Case" Crist says that he doesn't support repealing Florida's DOMA, but does think civil unions are OK. (Even though Florida's DOMA prevents them.) Crist goes on to say that he thinks gay adoption should be handled with a "live and let live" attitude, but that it should up to the courts to decide. Way to take a stand, gurl! (The gay bit starts in the below clip at 4:30)

Canadian Version Of Fox News Launches

Geez, I only hope I'm not talking out of my ass again!

Email Of The Day II

Here's Eugene delivering a supposed one million anti-gay petitions to Congress back in April. But as we know, the guy is seriously deranged, so those boxes might just be filled with Cheetos.

VIDEO: Tel Aviv Pride 2010

Tel Aviv's pride parade was on Sunday.

PAT BUCHANAN: Rep. Barton Was Very Courageous In Apologizing To BP

Email Of The Day

"I'm really fucking sick of you blogging about Canadian LGBTQ issues when as a NON-Canadian you are usually talking out of your ass. Maybe when Americans get halfway to where we are on gay rights, then you can talk. It's not like you can't fill your blog with all the problems queers have in your own country and have to invent controversies up here. Just so you know, 99.9% that will go to Toronto Pride will have no fucking idea about any dumbass boycott." - REDACTED in Toronto.

Quote Of The Day - Cameron Diaz

"If I'm going to be with a woman sexually, it doesn't mean I'm a lesbian. We put these restraints and definitions on people, but it's hard to define. Sexuality and love can be different things. I can be attracted to a woman sexually, but it doesn't mean I want to be in love with a woman." - Cameron Diaz, speaking to Playboy Magazine. Women are permitted such equivocation. But if a man were to say the same thing, he's clearly a deluded closet case.

NEW STUDY: All That Money Spent On Prop 8 Advertising Was For Nothing

According to a new study just released, those zillions of dollars spent by both sides during the 2008 Prop 8 advertising battle didn't actually change anybody's mind.

The warring sides in the 2008 battle over same-sex marriage in California may have spent a combined $83 million for nothing, according to an academic study released Tuesday. The study by Patrick Egan of New York University looked at polling on gay marriage and domestic partner elections in 33 states since 1998 and found that no minds were changed despite millions in spending, hard-hitting advertising such as the much-quoted "like it or not" TV spot with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and emotional pleas from both sides. By election day, voters who opposed same-sex marriage before the campaign still opposed it, and those who backed it continued to back it. "The study indicates that when all of this (campaigning) is over, the result is a wash," said Egan, who was joined by supporters of same-sex marriage at a news conference at San Francisco City Hall.

According to the above-linked story, the new study should serve as a warning to marriage proponents intent on putting the issue on the 2012 ballot. Equality California's Geoffrey Kors agrees that a majority support will be required before even considering the attempt: "We're not going in if the numbers don't make sense."

(Tipped by JMG reader Huntington)

GOP Rep. Joe Barton: The White House Is "Shaking Down" BP For Compensation

You have got to be fucking kidding me. At the congressional hearing today, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) actually apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward, saying that BP was being victimized by the White House.

Barton made the remarks at a House Energy and Commerce committee hearing that is ongoing. Hayward is before the committee to testify about his company’s handling of spill. "I am ashamed of what happened at the White House yesterday," said Barton, the top Republican on the committee. "It is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown – in this case a $20 billion shakedown."

Democrats were quick to denounce Barton's ridiculous comments.

Eminem Endorses Gay Marriage

"I think if two people love each other, then what the hell? I think that everyone should have the chance to be equally miserable, if they want." - Rapper Eminem, telling the New York Times that he's matured and become more tolerant. Eminem is now more progressive on LGBT rights than his one-time Grammy performance partner Elton John, who after Prop 8 passed said, "If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership." But let's definitely not forget Eminem's long track record of anti-gay lyrics, which he now dismisses as "what I was feeling at the time."

ABC Pulls Ads From Perez Hilton Over Miley Cyrus Upskirt Post

ABC has yanked its banner ads from Perez Hilton's site after the gossip queen tweeted a photo of Miley Cyrus without underwear.

Perez Hilton, aka Mario Lavandeira, might not yet be facing legal action after tweeting a provocative picture of teen star Miley Cyrus, but he is facing repercussions from advertisers. A rep for ABC Daytime confirms that a rotating banner ad promoting “The View” was pulled from the celebrity blogger’s website, PerezHilton.com. At press time, earlier reports that MTV pulled ads for TV Land were confirmed to be untrue, but one well-placed source within ABC said that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that more advertisers could follow ABC’s lead.

Numerous Facebook groups have sprung up calling for a boycott of any company that advertises on Hilton's site.

TORONTO: Anti-Israeli Apartheid Activists Plan To Defy Pride Events Ban

A new group called the Pride Coalition For Free Speech plans to march in Pride Toronto's parade and will appear at other events to denounce the decision to ban Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.

Go to Pride Toronto (PT) events and defy the ban — that is the message queer activists are sending partiers in the lead-up to Toronto’s gayest weekend. That stands in contrast to early calls for a boycott; most now plan to use official events to denounce organizers and make statements about PT and censorship. Since PT announced its ban on the term “Israeli apartheid” on May 25, gay people have been organizing through Facebook and in person to convince PT to reverse its decision. The Pride Coalition for Free Speech — an ad hoc group founded to fight the ban — hosted a meeting at the 519 Church St Community Centre on June 7 that drew more than 300 people. Roy Mitchell, a member of the coalition, says he’s watching people organize in a flurry — everything from skits to banner-making — as people turn their frustration into action. “We want Pride. We love Pride. We probably love it more than we ever had,” he says. He’s never seen this kind of energy before, he says. Those who oppose PT’s decision to censor QuAIA, no matter how they feel about the Middle East, are invited to march with the Pride Coalition for Free Speech — if its application is approved by PT staff, that is. “We are happy to take anyone under our banner who wants to join us,” says Mitchell, who is also organizing a free speech cabaret on June 29.

The Facebook page for the new protest group is here.

Where Are People Moving?

Using 2008 IRS data, Forbes Magazine has created a fascinating interactive map showing which cities are gaining or losing populations and where people are coming from/going to. Detroit, Los Angeles, and Miami appear to be suffering the greatest exoduses, with New York City remaining fairly unchanged. Red lines are outbound, black lines are inbound. You can click on every county in the country and see its changes.

Tired Old Queen At The Movies #36

1955's Picnic starring William Holden, Kim Novak, and Rosalind Russell. (Plus a nice shout-out to JMG!)

Sam Seder - That's Bullshit

Good As You tips us to this clip from Sam Seder's Bullshit series in which he rails against the FDA's decision to maintain the ban on gay blood. Seder spends much of the clip attacking Obama's "fierce advocacy."

Tweet Of The Day - Fake AP Stylebook

(Tipped by JMG reader Robert)

ManCrunch Launches Wedding Contest

A lot of folks had decided ManCrunch was a fake site created just to screw with CBS over their Super Bowl advertising policies. But today we hear they are launching a contest to win a gay wedding during Toronto's gay pride parade.

As North America’s fastest growing same-sex dating service, ManCrunch.com has enabled thousands of men to find happiness in a lasting relationship. At this year’s Pride Parade, in Toronto, Canada, our ceremonial float will be loaded with 10 couples ready to receive their nuptials. As the float progresses through the parade, wedding ceremonies will be performed by an officiant, with 1.3 million cheering witnesses. As a proud supporter of gay marriage we believe that ALL people, no matter where you live, your sexual orientation or what gender you are, you should have the right to say “I do” to the person you love. To emphasize our point, we’ve set out to make history.

Does anybody here actually belong to ManCrunch? Reviews?

PhoboQuotable - Randy Thomasson

"The lawsuit against Prop. 8 is more than an attack against natural marriage. It's an attack against our republic and our democracy. Our republic, because a judge took this case and made a circus out of it, despite the word 'marriage' not being in the U.S. Constitution and the 10th Amendment protecting states' rights to define marriage. Our democracy, because the voters of California have twice passed ballot measures defining marriage, even defining marriage in the California Constitution. If the federal courts strike down Prop. 8, they will have declared war on the voters in the 30 states that have defined marriage in their state constitutions." - Save California's Randy Thomasson.

Thomasson is quoted on World Net Daily, whose top headline today is You Won't Believe Who's Deciding The Future Of 'Gay Marriage'. WND is attacking Judge Vaughn Walker for being gay himself and goes on to quote Matt Barber: "This is no different than having an avid gun collector preside over a Second Amendment case or a frequent user of medical marijuana deciding the legality of medical marijuana."

NCLR's Kate Kendell Exults From The Closing Of Prop 8 Trial

(Via - Towleroad)

HomoQuotable - Queen Latifah

"I don’t have to explain anything. I don’t have to confirm anything. Look, I need my time. I need my life. You know, I was looking at something the other day. A magazine with Jennifer Aniston on the cover. That’s a strong woman right there. All of these people in her business-who is she dating? Angie this. Brad that. They come up with so much stuff. That’s a tough situation to be in.

"My situation is small compared to that. But still, I don’t feel like I need to explain. I’m the one living it. You write about it. You go ahead and speculate. I’ll just live it. I don’t feel like I need to explain things to a perfect stranger. The people who matter know. And they love me for Dana. I don’t have to tell Joe Blow. Joe, you worry about who YOU sleeping with." - Queen Latifah, speaking to Upscale Magazine.

(Tipped by JMG reader Suzanne)

WILTON MANORS: Massive Gay Resort Announced For Fort Lauderdale Area

Wilton Manors, the very gay small town just north of Fort Lauderdale, is slated to get a massive new resort.

New York-based G Worldwide plans to break ground on a 700,000 square-foot resort at an estimated cost of $80 million in Wilton Manors. The luxury resort, scheduled for completion in 2011, will bring over 500 new jobs to the area and is the first in a series of projects for the company catering to the LGBT community. David Holzapfel, COO of G Worldwide, is enthusiastic about the project. “The reason we chose Wilton Manors for our first project is because we felt that South Florida is a wonderful location.” Holzapfel likes the community of Wilton Manors, stating that the company has already garnered a great deal of support for the project. The resort will feature numerous lavish amenities. “We will have a fitness center, spa, nightclub, and a variety of dining options, all on property,” Holzapfel says. In addition, the resort also plans to offer a rooftop lounge and garden, as well as an art gallery and banquet center. The property, located at 1224 NE 24th Street, will only be a short walk from the Wilton Drive entertainment district, offering visitors an array of shopping and nightlife options. G Resort Wilton Manors also plans on attracting 25 major events to the resort, including conferences that will ultimately generate revenue for local businesses.

The resort will feature 172 all-suite rooms, including a number of 3000 square-foot penthouse triplex suites. It'll be interesting to see if Wilton Manors' bustling gay business environment can support such a behemoth, particularly in this economy. (I seem to recall a similar gay condo project, Wilton Station, having problems selling their units several years ago.) And some are concerned that such a big resort will crush some of local gay guesthouses. But who knows, every time I go back it seems like there are a dozen new gay businesses on Wilton Drive.

The Ever-Growing Oil Spill Estimates

Rachel Maddow: What Obama Should Have Said About The Gulf Oil Spill

Another Maddow classic. Watch this right now.

Open Thread Thursday

What's blowing up your iPod these days? Turn us on to your jam and feel free to embed YouTube clips.

Slaggie Gilamonster Concedes Prop 8

"Chuck Cooper is a heckuva lawyer. At stake in this case is the future of marriage in all 50 states, and he's right that this attempt to shut down the debate by constitutionalizing gay marriage will backfire. Americans have a right to vote for marriage. Ted Olson doesn't seem to understand the argument, and judging from today's exchanges neither does Judge Walker. I expect Judge Walker will overrule Prop 8. But millions of Americans do understand why marriage is the union of husband and wife and I believe the majority of the Supreme Court will as well." - NOM former president Maggie Gallagher, in a statement just posted to their Prop 8 site.

Quote Of The Day - Rick Jacobs

"The bailiff just made Maggie NOM put her bare feet down. She is so disrespectful." - Rick Jacobs, live-blogging for the Courage Campaign from the closing arguments at the Prop 8 trial. SRSLY? Slaggie had her bare feet on the back of the seat in front of her?

Happy Faces At Prop 8 Closing

Karen Obamb provides this photo of attorney David Boies and Prop 8 plaintiffs Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami during a break in today's closing arguments. Things are apparently going very well. Ocamb notes: "Prop 8 proponent attorney Charles Cooper is up now and there’s considerable laughter in the ceremonial overflow room at some of his arguments." Follow on Twitter here.

HomoQuotable - Linda Jernigan

"From almost twenty years of personal experience I know homosexuality is filled with pain, torment, shame, and confusion. In addition, suicide rates among lesbians are twice as high in comparison to heterosexual women. Also, 30% of all suicide attempts among people between the ages of 15-24 are homosexuals; and, domestic violence is the third leading cause of death among homosexuals (behind AIDS and substance abuse) How loving does this sound? Can you see how homosexuals are using simple words to advance their agenda? In addition to advancing their agenda, Satan’s desire is to place the church under arrest in our communications (print and media), speech (verbal and nonverbal), and language (words).

"In addition, saints, we must arise and become keenly aware of Satan’s devices. We have a mandate from God to UTTERLY DESTROY (Joshua 6:21, Exodus 22:20, 34:13, Deut 7:2) any kingdom that attempts to oppose and defy the standards, laws, and principles of our God! And, we are to destroy them without apologies! Please know, I do not promote violence towards homosexuals or any group of people but we can confidently annihilate demonic forces that oppose the expansion of the Kingdom of God. In addition, I fully understand that God (and I) loves homosexuals but wrapped within His love is a way of escape that is absolutely extended toward homosexuals. Hallelujah!" - "Ex-gay" Pastor Linda Jernigan, from her site Rescuing Homosexuals.

Jernigan will deliver her "What's Wrong With Gay Pride?" lecture at Peter LaBarbara's lavishly appointed basement dungeon headquarters on June 25th. If you'd like Pastor Linda to deliver you unto God'$ Holy Light, you can RSVP at 630-717-7631. Glory! Praise His Name!

SHOT BY SHOT: Gaga Vs. Madonna

SEATTLE: Cop Under Investigation Over Fight During Jaywalking Arrest

Seattle police are investigating the actions of an officer caught on video as he punched a 17 year-old girl in the face after she attempted to interfere with the arrest of another female minor. The incident has brought claims of police brutality by civil rights activists. The officer was assigned to control jaywalking at a busy intersection across from a school. When he asked a group of girls to use the designated footbridge, one of them reportedly ignored him with a "dismissive hand gesture" and continued across the street. What followed is in the video below. While arresting somebody for jaywalking certainly seems excessive, what you do not ever do, in my opinion, is attempt to resist arrest. Never, ever, ever put your hands on a cop. Take that bad arrest to civil court and get your satisfaction there.

TENNESSEE: Baptist Softball League Bans Entire Team Over Lesbian Coach

After she confirmed that she is gay, church officials told a lesbian coach that her entire team would not be allowed to compete in the Bellevue Baptist Church softball league in suburban Memphis.

Jana J. Jacobson said church officials told her the "deviant" lifestyle would prevent the team from competing in Bellevue's adult women's softball league. The coach said she was the only team member who attended meetings in preparation for the season that began June 8, and the only member questioned by Bellevue leadership. She wondered why her lifestyle mattered since they were playing softball. "Finally, in my frustration, I said that I am going to be clear. I am gay, and I find all of this to be absurd and against the word of God as I know it," Jacobson said of a meeting with Bellevue officials. Jim Barnwell, Bellevue's director of communications, said Tuesday afternoon the church has "no plans to comment on (Jacobson's story) at this time.

A local civil rights attorney quoted in the above-linked story says the church's action appears to be legal. Outsports has contact information for the church, if you'd like to let them know what you think. Nothing to see here folks, just more of God's Gentle Love™.

FREEP THIS POLL: The Commercial Appeal is asking readers if the league did the right thing. Go vote now.