Advocate Names Putin Person Of The Year

From their cover story:

As the Olympic Winter Games headed to Sochi in 2014, so did a spotlight on the violations against the Russian LGBT community. Those violations are coming directly from the top of the Russian government, with President Vladimir Putin leading the charge. His crusade against LGBT Russians and the outrage and protests his actions sparked have earned him the title of The Advocate’s 2014 “Person of the Year.”

Since winning his third term in 2012, Putin has become ever more autocratic, and his antigay ideology ever more extreme. In June 2013, he signed the infamous antigay propaganda bill that criminalizes the “distribution of information…aimed at the formation among minor of nontraditional sexual attitudes,” with nontraditional meaning anything other than heterosexual. Individual violators are fined anywhere between $120 and $150, while NGOs and corporations can incur fines as high as $30,000.

International outrage flared in the months before the Sochi Olympics, in response to which Putin reassured the gay and lesbian community they had nothing to fear as long as they left Russia’s children in peace. Such incendiary rhetoric is a staple of Putin’s political playbook. And in Russia, where the majority of media are state-owned, there’s little public pushback.

Putin continually preaches Russian nationalism and purity, telling reporters in January that anything that gets in the way of Russia’s population growth should be “cleaned up.” The message is clear: Putin’s Russia, in grand Soviet tradition, is a country of the masses, not the individual. Yet it’s the masses that must safeguard individual liberties.

Last year the magazine chose Pope Francis.

Advocate Issues Top 50 LGBT Media List

The Advocate today issued a ranking of the "50 most influential LGBT people in media." On the list are many familiar names including Andrew Sullivan, Frank Bruni, Josh Barro, Dan Savage, Suze Orman, and Glenn Greenwald. (Tipped by JMG reader Kyle)

Advocate's 15 Gayest Cities In America

The Advocate has published its annual and quite silly ranking of the gayest cities in America. Among the ranking criteria is the number of concerts by Marah Carey, Pink, and the Jonas Brothers. Your town also got a point if it hosted a gay rodeo. Eye roll.

Signorile Slams Advocate Over Naming Pope Francis The Person Of The Year

"The Advocate magazine put Pope Francis on its cover, proclaiming him the Person of the Year, offering a myriad of reasons why it passed up others, such as Edie Windsor. The best thing about this is that Francis has a 'NoH8' decal Photoshopped onto his face, and it's driving poor Bill Donohue of the Catholic League into a blood-vessel-popping rage. But mostly, this was idiotic. Pope Francis is a lot of things to many people in the world. But he is not our hero of the LGBT community in 2013. Can we please get a grip, folks? Are we that starved for validation? [snip] Sure, we should note that Francis has made some relatively supportive statements toward gays this year, but to make Francis the person of the year for the LGBT community, when so many others have worked tirelessly to advance equality, is silly and seems like a PR move by the Advocate to get attention. Bravo for them, they got it. How it advances LGBT rights and upholds our credibility when we give out honors so lightly, however, is another matter." - Michelangelo Signorile, writing for the Huffington Post.

The Advocate Names Russian President Vladimir Putin "Phobie Of The Year"

The Advocate today announced its Phobie Awards, with Russian President Vladimir Putin topping their list of the thirteen most homophobic people in the world. The rest of the list features evildoers well known to JMG readers: Orson Scott Card, Scott Lively, Pat Robertson, E.W. Jackson, Marco Rubio, Frigide Barjot, Ken Cuccinelli, Robert Mugabe, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rep. Louie Gohmert, and two anti-gay California groups working to overturn transgender rights. Hit the link and read the Advocate's justification for each selection.

GOProud Endorses Baldwin Opponent

The Advocate reports that GOProud has endorsed the GOP opponent of Rep. Tammy Baldwin for the U.S. Senate.

"Tommy Thompson is a common-sense conservative who will focus on creating jobs and growing the economy for all Wisconsin,” said GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia in a statement. “Governor Thompson’s experience and leadership uniquely qualify him to serve in the U.S. Senate.” Thompson, a four-term former governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush, won a hotly contested, four-way primary last week. His win marked a break in this year’s trend of tea party upsets over establishment Republican figures, and arguably delivered the toughest general election challenger to Baldwin. GOProud backed a tea party favorite, former WWE chief executive Linda McMahon, in her victory in the Connecticut Senate primary last week.

Thompson opposes marriage equality and supports DOMA. Advocate reporter Julie Bolcer adds this quote from GOProud cofounder Chris Barron:

"Tammy Baldwin will be a Senator of the special interests, the D.C. insiders, and the most liberal activists. Tommy Thompson will be a Senator for the people of Wisconsin. The voters of Wisconsin need to ask themselves whether or not they want to send a woman to the Senate who has a voting record to the left of Nancy Pelosi. Tammy Baldwin has been a rubber stamp for the disastrous big government policies of the far left.”

UPDATE: Towleroad points out this Think Progress clip in which Thompson declares that it should be legal to fire somebody for being gay.

HIV Criminalization May Hinder Testing

A new study out of Canada indicates that a recent spate of prosecutions for HIV status nondisclosure may lead some men to never get tested at all. Todd Heywood reports at the Advocate:

[A] significant minority of men who have sex with men said that a series high-profile criminal prosecutions related to HIV nondisclosure had impacted their willingness to get tested for the virus or to discuss risk factors with medical professionals. The researchers further reported that these individuals were more likely to engage in higher-risk sexual practices. “Our results indicate that, although it is a minority of individuals (17.0% and 13.8%, respectively) who reported that nondisclosure criminal prosecutions either (a) affected their willingness to get tested for HIV, or (b) made them afraid to speak with nurses and physicians about their sexual practices, this small group reported higher rates of unprotected penetrative anal intercourse and internal ejaculation with, on average, a higher number of different sexual partners within the previous 2 months,” wrote the study’s authors.

Heywood adds:

Unlike Canada, where prosecutors rely on traditional criminal laws such as sexual assault, attempted murder, and murder, the U.S has a patchwork of laws specifically involving HIV. According to the Center for HIV Law and Policy, 34 U.S. states and two U.S. territories have HIV-specific criminal laws. Some of those laws criminalize failure to disclose an HIV-positive status to sexual partners — regardless of whether the virus is actually transmitted. Even in states without specific HIV statutes, prosecutors can bring charges under traditional criminal laws, such as assault with a deadly weapon charges.

RELATED: Last month Lambda Legal filed an appeal on behalf of a man who was originally sentenced to 25 years in prison for failing to disclose his HIV status to a partner with whom he'd used a condom and who did not become infected.

UNRELATED: Todd Heywood was my hotel roommate at this year's Netroots Nation. You won't find a sharper reporter on HIV/AIDS issues.

The Advocate Endorses Obama

Making what they say is their first endorsement "in decades," today The Advocate officially backed Barack Obama.

By saying aloud, “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” in a televised interview on ABC, he has sparked conversation domestically and internationally. While he is our president at home, globally he’s an icon, a symbol of the promise of America, of the promise of equality. Obama may be the most prominent man on the planet ever, given the pervasiveness of modern media and his anomalous and historic nature as the first black American president; he is surely the single most recognizable head of state on the globe. By virtue of his unique position, his endorsement of marriage equality is not merely rhetoric. His words constitute action. On the very face of it, his statement is enormous, and has the power to move millions in a way that a statement from no other person could have.

Read the full article.

This Week's Advocate

Quote Of The Day - George Clooney

"I think it’s funny, but the last thing you’ll ever see me do is jump up and down, saying, 'These are lies!' That would be unfair and unkind to my good friends in the gay community. I’m not going to let anyone make it seem like being gay is a bad thing. My private life is private, and I’m very happy in it. Who does it hurt if someone thinks I’m gay? I’ll be long dead and there will still be people who say I was gay. I don’t give a shit." - George Clooney, speaking to the Advocate.

Orlando: Second Gayest?

Yesterday I mentioned that the Advocate, using some unusual calculations, had named Salt Lake as "America's Gayest City." But I didn't even notice that my hometown of Orlando had been named as #2. That's....interesting.

America's Gayest Town: Salt Lake City?

So sez the Advocate's, using the above formula for the calculations.

Gillibrand: Obama May Endorse Marriage Equality Before 2012 Election

In an interview with Andrew Harmon at the Advocate, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speculates that President Obama might complete his "evolution" on same-sex marriage before the 2012 election.

Harmon: Do you think it’s possible that he could come out in support of marriage equality before the 2012 election?

Gillibrand: Definitely. He put the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in his State of the Union address. So there’s no reason why he can’t lean into marriage equality in a public speech or through some action he could do through the White House. I’d be thrilled if he decided to do that. He did take the step of not [defending] DOMA through his Department of Justice, which is a fantastic step because it was one that he was unwilling to do in “don’t ask, don’t tell.” So it shows a shift in his willingness to use the power of the White House — the power of the administration — to change public perception and to change policy. So I think we could get a very strong public statement out of him.

Read the full interview.

Michelangelo Signorile Rips GOProud

In a blistering essay which name-checks right wing gays Roy Cohn and Ken Mehlman, today Michelangelo Signorile posts an Advocate column ripping GOProud and its chairman, Chris Barron. An excerpt:

[D]enialists and elitists who believe they are superior to other gays — even if the attitude masks a pitiful self-loathing — are clearly as prevalent as ever in the LGBT movement, except that they can now be out of the closet. Perversely, the fact that we can find such people in GOProud is a measure of our success. The other thing we’ve learned is that the Christian right, contrary to all the media blather about it losing steam as the Tea Party ascends, still has a grip on the GOP, and this can actually be helpful in gaining civil rights through the Democratic Party—if the Democrats recognize a useful wedge issue staring them in the face. [snip]

GOProud’s Chris Barron fits right in, often appearing desperate for Republican acceptance, compromising his positions at a moment’s notice—if he even had any to begin with. Formerly political director for the Log Cabin Republicans, he broke away and cofounded GOProud, claiming that Log Cabin wasn’t conservative enough. Since its founding in 2009, GOProud slowly moved in the direction of not taking any pro-gay positions, all in an attempt to be included in the Republican Party, even though Barron oddly once tweeted that GOProud is “a gay organization, we only work on gay issues.”

Read the full article.

Obama On "Evolving" Marriage Position

Yesterday the president sat down with Advocate reporter Kerry Eleveld, who reminded him of his recent comment that his position on same-sex marriage has been evolving.

OBAMA: I'm not going to make more news today. The sentiment I expressed then is still where I am—which is, like a lot of people, I'm wrestling with this. My attitudes are evolving on this. I have always firmly believed in having a robust civil union that provides the rights and benefits under the law that marriage does. I've wrestled with the fact that marriage traditionally has had a different connotation. But I also have a lot of very close friends who are married gay or lesbian couples.

OBAMA: And squaring that circle is something that I have not done yet, but I'm continually asking myself this question and I do think that—I will make this observation, that I notice there is a big generational difference. When you talk to people who are in their 20s, they don't understand what the holdup is on this, regardless of their own sexual orientation. And obviously when you talk to older folks, then there’s greater resistance. And so this is an issue that I'm still wrestling with, others are still wrestling with. What I know is that at minimum, a baseline is that there has to be a strong, robust civil union available to all gay and lesbian couples.

Eleveld then pressed the president as to a timeline for "getting there" on marriage. Obama: "I'm going to stick with my answer."

Sen. John McCain Flips Out During DADT Interview With Gay Reporters

Think Progress reports:

This afternoon, immediately after the Senate failed to invoke cloture on a defense authorization measure which included an amendment to gradually repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a group of journalists met with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to discuss the vote. Pressed by The Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld and Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner about instances when the military actively sought to out gay troops, McCain grew defiant and insisted that the military does not “go out and seek to find out if someone’s sexual orientation."

A full transcript of the exchange is at the above link.

Gay-Baiting, Not Gay-Baiting

The Advocate wonders if Sarah Palin's blow-up at Vanity Fair over their hit piece on her wasn't deliberately loaded with words meant to attack the sexuality of its author.

Is Sarah Palin using code words to slam gay journalist Michael Joseph Gross, a frequent Advocate contributor who wrote the much-buzzed-about profile of the former vice presidential nominee in this month’s Vanity Fair? Palin didn’t mention Gross by name while talking Thursday on Sean Hannity’s WABC radio show, but she seemed to be referring to the article — and pointedly used emasculating words that have long been used as euphemisms for homosexuality — when she called reporters who publish “rumors” about her “impotent,” “limp,” and “gutless.”

GOProud director Chris Barron rushes to Palin's defense.

"It is The Advocate, not Sarah Palin, who is guilty of ‘gay-baiting.’ I don’t think most people associate the words ‘impotent,’ ‘limp,’ or ‘gutless’ with being gay – I know I certainly don’t. If the folks at The Advocate think these words are euphemisms for being gay or lesbian then I think that speaks volumes about their own internalized homophobia. Governor Palin was absolutely right to use the words she chose to describe the pathetic hatchet job penned by Mr. Gross."

HomoQuotable - Ken Mehlman

"Look, I have a lot of friends who ask questions and who are angry about it. I understand that folks are angry, I don’t know that you can change the past. As I’ve said, one thing I regret a lot is the fact that I wasn’t in the position I am today where I was comfortable with this part of my life, where I was able to be an advocate against that [strategy] and able to be someone who argued against it. I can’t change that – it is something I wish I could and I can only try to be helpful in the future. But I understand the anger and I talk to friends about it – it’s something that I hear from a number of friends." - Ken Mehlman, telling the Advocate's Kerry Eleveld that he's gosh-darn sorry about those 11 states that passed anti-gay amendments in 2004.

Read Mehlman's full interview, his first ever with the gay press.

On The Rise Of GetEQUAL

From heckling the president, to congressional sit-ins, to chaining themselves to the White House fence, not since ACT-UP has an activist group shaken up our world as GetEQUAL has. Today Andrew Harmon and Kerry Eleveld have posted a lengthy dissection of GetEQUAL for the Advocate. An excerpt:

Although GetEqual appears to have sprung up from nowhere and arrived with haste, the group is an amalgamation of grassroots passion, Beltway savvy, and well-heeled support. Conceived out of a desire to revive the legacy of civil disobedience as exemplified by the civil rights movement and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), the group has both directed and inspired a spate of protests by activists nationwide. Its members have taken on the Fred Phelps “God Hates Fags” clan, disrupted congressional committee meetings, and heckled President Barack Obama at Democratic fund-raisers, as Kip Williams, who founded the group with McGehee, did last week, leading to his second arrest since GetEqual’s founding.

Along the way, they’ve have been portrayed as “rude, rash and paranoid, and virtually impossible to please” — words used to describe ACT UP members in a 1990 New York Times story. The historic compromise vote in the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee to begin the process of DADT repeal did little to modulate GetEqual's communiqués: "We keep asking the question, 'When will the military discharges end?' and have not yet received an answer from the legislative or executive branches," one recent release reads. "It is the President’s moral responsibility to issue an executive order banning the firings under 'don’t ask, don’t tell' until the process can play itself out."

McGehee says she’s certain that GetEqual is helping to fill a void, however intransigent the message may seem. “We’ve heard from the top political advisers all the way down to organizational figureheads that we need to have both roles in the movement, from the suites of power to streets of activism,” she says. “Without the street pressure, political insiders would not have made the gains they have.”

Read the entire article.

Advocate Locates Geo/Lucien

The Advocate has learned the real name of the elusive Geo/Lucien, but the kid is still not talking.

“Lucien,” the young man at the center of an emerging scandal involving one of the most influential leaders of the "ex-gay" movement, is known on his Facebook and MySpace profiles as Jo-vanni Roman, The Advocate has learned. Reached Tuesday afternoon by phone, a man purporting to be Roman repeatedly declined to discuss any details of being hired by Rekers for a recent 10-day trip to Madrid and London. “I don’t think people realize how serious this has gotten, and I would have talked about this had my privacy been respected,” Roman said, referring to his Rentboy.com profile, which was posted Tuesday by Unzipped followed by several gay blogs. “There’s absolutely nothing else I can say,” Roman added. According to Facebook and MySpace profiles created by Roman, he is a 20-year-old Miami resident and a 2008 graduate of Felix Varela High School in The Hammocks, an unincorporated suburb located 20 miles west of Miami.

I've written Jo-Vanni via Facebook and again requested an interview. We're not holding our breath, but in the meantime, check out his 2008 teen angst-laden MySpace rant about the difficulty of finding "a nice guy in this fucking city."