Larry Kramer On Stonewall Boycott

"Don't listen to the crazies. For some reason there is a group of 'activists' that insists on maintaining their prime importance and participation during this riot. Unfortunately there seems no one left alive to say 'it wasn't that way at all,' or 'who are or where the fuck were you.' As with so much history there is no way to 'prove' a lot of stuff, which allows artists such as yourself (and me I might add) to take essences and attempt to find and convey meaning and truth. I sincerely hope this boycott your film shit peters out. We are not dealing with another 'Cruising' here. Keeping your film from being seen is only hurting ourselves. Good luck and thank you for your passion." - Larry Kramer, responding to the Facebook page of Stonewall director Roland Emmerich.

Matt Baume's New Book: The Podcast

Tonight In Provincetown

If you're in Provincetown, tonight my pal Wayne Hoffman will be reading from his new book, An Older Man, which I read on the train ride up here. Recommended!

Matt Baume: The Book

From the Amazon recap:

Baume provides rare, behind-the-scenes access to personal conflicts around the national struggle. While furious protestors clash on the steps of the Supreme Court, we are ushered inside to witness the same debate playing out amongst the Justices. Readers witness gay political leaders locked in desperate, emotional struggles to pass marriage bills in the back halls of capitols, and are are privy to the conversations of families as they discover what the shifting landscape of marriage means for their own relationships. From decades past to this moment in history, from halls of power to private bedrooms, from the political to the personal, Defining Marriage is the story of how people from all walks of life fought to change marriage -- and how fighting for marriage, in turn, changed them.

The book is free to download this week.

Quote Of The Day - Frank Bruni

"I know a hot trend when I see one and I hate to hop aboard too late. So here goes: I’m announcing my candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. Sure, I have severely limited name recognition in the hinterlands and, come to think of it, in most urban, suburban and exurban areas as well. But that isn’t stopping Lindsey Graham. True, I have questionable hair (what’s left of it). But that’s not going to deter Donald Trump. My weight has been known to fluctuate, but that connects me to Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush, whose Paleo regimen has worked slimming wonders. Forget his position on immigration and check out those new cheekbones! Memo to self: Out with the rigatoni, in with the rib-eye." - Frank Bruni, writing for the New York Times.

Lambda Literary Awards: June 1st In NYC

John Waters and Rita Mae Brown will be honored at the 2015 Lambda Literary Awards in Manhattan on June 1st. On the list of attendees: Gloria Steinem, Liz Smith, Michelangelo Signorile, Janet Mock, Alan Cumming, Justin Bond, Susie Bright, and many others. Get tickets here.

ASAP Science: What If The Bees Die?

Fran Lebowitz On Drag Queens & Fashion

"The extreme, exaggerated femininity is, for most people, not so great a look. Except for drag queens, because that's what drag queens do. I mean, I always thought it would be much wittier for drag queens to dress in this very drab way. You know, the yoga pants? Well, what if drag queens just really let themselves go, pretending not to try, like most women? But there are no drag queens like that, because drag queens know how to wear clothes. Can you imagine if women tried as hard as drag queens? We'd be a much more attractive culture. I wouldn't have to give out so many yoga pants citations." - Fran Lebowitz, talking fashion with Elle Magazine.

Andrew Sullivan To Stop Blogging

Citing recent health issues, his marriage, and the stresses brought on by 15-hour days over 15 years, Andrew Sullivan today told his readers that he will soon stop blogging.

I am saturated in digital life and I want to return to the actual world again. I’m a human being before I am a writer; and a writer before I am a blogger, and although it’s been a joy and a privilege to have helped pioneer a genuinely new form of writing, I yearn for other, older forms. I want to read again, slowly, carefully. I want to absorb a difficult book and walk around in my own thoughts with it for a while. I want to have an idea and let it slowly take shape, rather than be instantly blogged. I want to write long essays that can answer more deeply and subtly the many questions that the Dish years have presented to me. I want to write a book. [snip]

How do I say goodbye? How do I walk away from the best daily, hourly, readership a writer could ever have? It’s tough. In fact, it’s brutal. But I know you will understand. Because after all these years, I feel I have come to know you, even as you have come to see me, flaws and all. Some things are worth cherishing precisely because they are finite. Things cannot go on for ever. I learned this in my younger days: it isn’t how long you live that matters. What matters is what you do when you’re alive. And, man, is this place alive. When I write again, it will be for you, I hope – just in a different form. I need to decompress and get healthy for a while; but I won’t disappear as a writer. But this much I know: nothing will ever be like this again, which is why it has been so precious; and why it will always be a part of me, wherever I go; and why it is so hard to finish this sentence and publish this post.

Man, do I get this. Anybody who does live news blogging knows all too well the havoc this kind of work can wreak upon your personal life. Sure, there's great freedom to be able to work wherever you are and any time. But you also have to work wherever you are and at any time. I've blogged from trains, planes, buses, ferries, taxis, airports, "vacation" hotel rooms, and from the backseats of cars. I've angered and hurt close friends by leaving parties to update a breaking story or by turning down invitations because something is about to happen. (These days those invitations often close with a tart "if you can leave your computer.") I do love what I do, but yeah, I get you Andrew Sullivan. I've strongly disagreed with you on many occasions, but this, I get.

GLAAD Unveils Media Awards Nominees

Via press release:

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD's work to amplify stories from the LGBT community and issues that build support for equality.

Among the nominees: Amazon Instant Video's smash hit Transparent; ABC's How to Get Away with Murder; HBO's Game of Thrones, Looking, and The Normal Heart; Academy Award nominee The Imitation Game and Golden Globe nominee Pride; Love is Strange, starring John Lithgow and Alfred Molina; Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word and True Trans with Laura Jane Grace, both documentaries about transgender people; Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel for Nick News with Linda Ellerbee and Good Luck Charlie respectively; To Russia with Love, Oprah Prime, and Outsports.com for interviews with out athletes; MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry; and Sam Smith for his critically acclaimed album In the Lonely Hour.

This year, GLAAD expanded the Outstanding Comedy Series and Drama Series categories from five nominees to a maximum of 10 nominees each. In 2005, GLAAD considered for nomination eight comedy series and 17 drama series with regular LGBT characters. This year, the pool of shows with regular LGBT characters considered for nomination included 52 comedy series and 83 drama series. With over 100 shows including LGBT characters as part of the cast, the number of shows worthy of nomination has also increased. Expanding the number of nominees in these two categories allows GLAAD to recognize more of these outstanding series.

The full list pf nominees is here.

Richard Blanco - Until We Could

I got to see this gorgeous short back in April at the tenth anniversary celebration of Freedom To Marry. The Daily Beast recaps:

It is a decade since the U.S. first state, Massachusetts, enshrined marriage equality in law, and since the founding of campaign group Freedom To Marry (FTM). It has been a fruitful, frustrating decade, a bizarre range of weather systems of advances and losses—but mainly now, finally, advances. To mark the 10 years, FTM commissioned Richard Blanco, the poet for Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, to write a poem commemorating the decade. So powerful was the result, titled “Until We Could,” the organization then commissioned a video to bring Blanco’s words to evocative life.

The poem's text is at the link above.

(Tipped by JMG reader David)

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)

The Normal Heart Wins Emmy For Best Movie, Larry Kramer Joins Cast On Stage

Kramer took the stage with the aid of a bright pink cane and wearing an ACT UP hat. Director Ryan Murphy gave the acceptance speech and the audience responded with the first standing ovation of the night.

Buzzfeed Reporter Chris Geidner Named NGLJA's Journalist Of The Year

The National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association has named Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner its 2014 Journalist Of The Year. Via Politico:

Geidner, the site's legal editor, has turned LGBT issues into a full-time beat at BuzzFeed, and wrote several features on the history of the marriage equality movement, including profiles of Edith Windsor and Mary Bonauto. "We're so proud of this well-deserved recognition for Chris's work, and of the blend of hardcore beat reporting and high-altitude features that showed how marriage could and should be a frontline beat and one of the most important stories of the decade," Ben Smith, BuzzFeed's editor in chief, said.

We send our hearty congratulations to Chris, whose work is excerpted here on JMG at least once a week and sometimes far more often. The full list of this year's NGLJA honorees is here.

Yesterday In Provincetown

Left to right: Chris Turner, Andy Towle, Michael Goff, Armistead Maupin, some short dude, Brian Sims.

Today In Provincetown

Ito, fetch me a sidecar.

Friday In Provincetown

Via Towleroad:

If you are at Bear Week in Provincetown come to Towleroad's coffee meet-up on Friday from 9-11:30 am at the Central House restaurant at the Crown & Anchor (247 Commercial) and meet literary legend Armistead Maupin and Joe.My.God blogger Joe Jervis who are our special guests, along with Andy Towle and Michael Goff.

RELATED: Maupin's final Bear Week show at the Crown & Anchor is Friday night.

BONUS: Hit the top link for a woofy Bear Week photo compilation.

Tomorrow In Provincetown

From the Facebook event page:

Join us for a fun and fur-filled hour of hirsute literary pursuit for a reading and book signing for the new bear poetry anthology, Hibernation, and other poems by bear bards. Bear down to listen up as an outstanding group of authors reads from the book as well as other poems. This free event will be hosted by editor Ron J. Suresha and features contributing authors Alfred Corn, Charlie Hopwood, Daniel Lewiston, Dennis Rhodes, Rocco Russo, Jordan Shu, and Chris Vaccaro. Come listen to world-class poets share their bear-themed poetry. We'll be joined by several other bear authors with new books to share with the community.

Armistead Maupin To Speak At Bear Week

Legendary novelist Armistead Maupin returns to Bear Week in Provincetown this month for two nights of storytelling.

Gay Icon, Literary genius! Warm, engaging, surprising and entertaining, Armistead Maupin returns to The Crown & Anchor's Paramount Room for 2 nights. Hear readings from his latest works along with anecdotes and insights from his years as a prolific writer. Always a crowd favorite, Armistead captivates his audiences.

I attended the last two years and had a wonderful time. Advance tickets are definitely suggested.

TRAILER: Mothers And Sons

(Tipped by JMG reader Alan)