More SaturdayMale Beauty

Buju Banton: 'There is No End to the War Between Me and Faggot'

When I did some previous posts taking Buju Banton to task for his hatefully homophobia and lamenting that a local venue had provide Banton with a site for a performance, I received an number od nasty comments that accused me of ignorance, not understanding that Banton wasn't a bigot, etc. Since the comments were anonymous, they were rejected as is how I typically handle anonymous posts from those who are too cowardly to put their name and face behind their nasty remarks. Now, Banton has confirmed that my condemnation was correct all along and that he is indeed a jackass and hate filed homophobe. I can just imagine to uproar were gays to call for the murder of blacks or Jamaicans. As is usually the case with bigots, they want one standard applied to themselves and a wholly different one applied to their critics. I also have to wonder if Banton realizes that the loudest homophobes are in reality the ones who secretly want gay sex themselves. Maybe Banton secretly lusts to be a big old bottom. Here are some highlights from the Jamaica Observer:

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International reggae artiste Buju Banton, who this week met with gay activists in San Francisco, says he will not "surrender" to the group's philanthropy proposals as they would contradict his religion and culture. Banton also said his concert that night was pepper-sprayed following the meeting with the gay lobby.

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"This is a fight, and as I said in one of my songs 'there is no end to the war between me and faggot' and it's clear. The same night after I met with them (gay associates), they pepper-sprayed the concert. So what are you trying to tell me?" claimed Banton who phoned Mutabaruka's Cutting Edge talk-show on Wednesday in order to clarify his meeting in the US gay capital. "I owe dem nothing, they don't owe I nothing."

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There you have it straight from the bigots own mouth. I hope God judges him as harshly as he has judged and belittled GLBT individuals.

Vote On Insurance Industry Antitrust Exemption Coming

Personally, I have long been bothered by the manner in which certain industries have been granted exempt status under the anti-trust laws and been allowed to operate in either a complete monopoly - e.g., electric and gas utilities which have no competition and often are granted a guaranteed rate of return unlike any other businesses - or in a relatively small groups of companies that always seem to be (i) conspiring among each other to avoid true competition and (ii) doing nothing to provide consumers with efficient, cost effective options. Would that my firm could have a guaranteed rate of return and protection from any real competition. Now, faced with the lies and lobbying by the health insurance industry which cares nothing about providing consumers with viable options Congress is about to revisit the exempt status of the health care insurance industry from the anti-trust laws. This is a case of threatening to hit these companies where it will really, really hurt and it is something that is long overdue. Here are some highlights from Huffington Post:
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The battle against the health insurance industry is steadily intensifying. House Democrats have formally scheduled a vote to revoke the industry's cherished antitrust protection, according to a statement from Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.). The move comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) have put up a unified front, calling for an end to the anti-competitive practice. On Thursday, Pelosi noted to reporters that the Judiciary Committee had held a hearing on repealing the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts the insurance industry from antitrust laws.

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Conyers announced Friday he'd take it to the next level and hold a vote on October 21. "These abuses are plainly illegal in other industries, and it does not make sense, when Congress is working so hard to bring meaningful reform to the market in health insurance, that health insurers should continue to be exempted from federal antitrust oversight," said Conyers. "This bill is an important complement to the public insurance option in ensuring that American families get the full benefits of choice, affordability, reliability, and quality service that competition brings."

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For far too long, health insurance companies have been exempted from playing by the rules that most other businesses must live by. They have abused that benefit. Now is the time to require them to abide by the same rules as everyone else. I believe it is long past time to repeal this exemption," he said.

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The plain fact is that the health insurance industry has proven itself to be a rapacious, greedy parasite that rakes in money in the form of premiums and then looks for every possible means to deny coverage or pass costs back to insured Americans. Having abused the privilege that they were afforded, it is time that consequences come home to roost.

Saturday Male Beauty

White House Says No to Antigay Referenda

In a case of better late than never, the White House has come out in a statement opposing the anti-gay voter referenda in Maine and Washington. It would have been nice if the statement had been made at the HRC dinner last weekend, but at least Obama is now on record and perhaps some will be influenced by his position on these two efforts which are based on anti-gay animus and religious based discrimination - things that the civil laws should not support. It has long been my view that the far right and professional Christian set's real goal is to keep GLBT Americans inferior under the civil laws so that they can then point to such treatment as proof that their anti-gay animus is justified. It's a sick reality, in my view. These folks hate us and many would prefer that we disappear. Here are some highlights from The Advocate on the issue:

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In response to an inquiry from The Advocate, the White House sent the following statement regarding President Barack Obama’s position on same-sex relationship recognition voter referenda in Maine and Washington:

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“The President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples, and as he said at the Human Rights Campaign dinner, he believes ‘strongly in stopping laws designed to take rights away.’ Also at the dinner, he said he supports, ‘ensuring that committed gay couples have the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple in this country.’"

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The White House statement could help LGBT activists fighting to defeat Maine's antigay measure, as Obama's approval ratings continue to flourish there -- a new poll this month found that 58% of Maine voters approve of the president's job performance. A late September poll put his approval ratings in Washington slightly lower, at 53%.

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As I have stated numerous times, it sets a very, very dangerous precedent to allow a mere majority of voters to begin stripping away legal rights of other citizens. Today it's GLBT citizens, and tomorrow it could be immigrants, Hispanics or even blacks. This type of legalized bigotry and discrimination should not be allowed under the U. S. Constitution and must be stopped.

Pam's House Blend Makes Technorati's Top 50 U.S. Politics Blogs

I want to extend sincere congratulations to Pam Spaulding and her group at Pam's House Blend for making the top 50 political blogs in the USA (the Blend landed at #40). It's a well deserved achievement and we should all be proud of what the Blend has become. Getting to know Pam at the LGBT Blogger Summit last December was a real treat and her wit, passion and willingness to call things as she sees them are an inspiration. The Blend is definitely one of my must read blogs every day. The amazing thing, of course, is that bloggers like Pam make a difference without the huge funding available to the MSM which in comparison is too often lazy, unwilling to do more than parrot BS handed to it, and never willing to call folks bigots and liars. Here's some of Pam's reaction:
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[W]ritten by unfunded politically-minded, coffee-stained, PJ-wearing baristas, competing on the list against corporatized, institutional, media-backed and think-tank blogs on that list. If you removed all of those funded political blogs like The Politico, CNN's Political Ticker, Think Progress, et. al., the Blend would be in the top 25 political blogs in the nation.

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That's quite terrifying to me on some level to see the blog's reach and influence; after all, 1) it's not generated from inside the Beltway or a major media market; 2) it's a diverse roster of contributors; 3) it's run by a black lesbian with a lot of LGBT and race-focused content. I wonder what has been the reason for this success? I really don't have a clue when you see the Blend stacked up against all those other influential blogs.

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Oh, just so you know, I've never been approached by any media entity or institution to "buy out" or fully subsidize PHB, so I doubt you'll see that happening any time soon, despite the ranking. It sits in an odd niche, has a quirky collection of voices, and no one would want to see it radically change even if that meant stability and guarantee of sustainability. Of course that also means it could just go away at any time due to its current model of flying by the seat of your independent pants.

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In my view, Pam is far too modest. She is an amazing person and a role model for those of us who are frustrated part time journalists and columnists. Again, congratulations Pam and crew!!

More Friday Male Beauty

The "Gay Index" and High Tech Metropolitan Areas

The article that I am going to reference is not a new release but given the political picture in Virginia's current election contest for governor, the findings are relevant. Throughout his false campaign as a moderate, Taliban Bob McDonnell has maintained that he wants to be a "jobs governor." However, as this article reveals, Taliban Bobs religious extremism and intolerance towards gays and other minority groups will retard Virginia's ability to attract high technology and other high paying employers? Why, because they will not want to move to Virginia with its Pat Robertson disciple as governor should Taliban Bob be elected. Religious intolerance and bigotry against those of different cultural backgrounds - hallmarks of the current Republican Party of Virginia - are not positive marketing points. Something that the cretins among the teabaggers and Bible beaters cannot quite grasp. Here are some highlights from a report issued by the Center on Urban & Metropolitan Policy:

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Technology and Tolerance: The Importance of Diversity High-Technology Growth

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The leading indicator of a metropolitan area’s high-technology success is a large gay population. The five metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of gay residents are all among the nation’s top 15 high-technology areas: San Francisco, Washington D.C., Austin, Atlanta, and San Diego. Gays not only predict the concentration of high-tech industry, they are also a predictor of its growth.

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Now, however, people are the center of the action. High human capital individuals—or as we like to call them, talent—are the key to success in this new era of economic growth. Their ideas and creativity are the most important ingredients in the economic success of a firm or region.

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Our theory is that a connection exists between a metropolitan area’s level of tolerance for a range of people, its ethnic and social diversity, and its success in attracting talented people, including high-technology workers. People in technology businesses are drawn to places known for diversity of thought and open-mindedness. These places possess what we refer to as low barriers to entry for human capital. Diverse, inclusive communities that welcome gays, immigrants, artists, and free thinking “bohemians” are ideal for nurturing creativity and innovation, both keys to success in the new technology.

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Gay Index: This index measures the over—or under-representation of gay male couples in a metropolitan area relative to the population. The index is constructed as the fraction of gays who live in a metropolitan area divided by the fraction of the U.S. population who live in that area.

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The report goes on to apply it's analysis to the 50 metropolitan areas in the USA, including Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia. Not surprisingly, both areas rank well below the middle of the list of cities when it comes to the "gay index" and tolerance. In fact, Norfolk ranks 37th out of 50 in terms of the gay index. Indeed, the ONLY area in Virginia that does well is the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. This makes perfect sense given Virginia's extremely anti-gay legal atmosphere. Should Taliban Bob and Ken "Kook" Cuccinelli be elected, the anti-gay atmosphere will only get worse - Taliban Bob has already stated that, if elected, he will not renew the Executive Order purporting to grant employment protection to GLBT state employees - and Virginia will be even less competitive. Would that more in the business community understood the tie between intolerance and poor ability to attract top high technology businesses.

Islamic Government in Iran Continues Barbaric Crackdown

I have not posted recently about Iran, but I continue to be sickened by news reports that the Islamic extremist government - with the help of its murderous thugs, far right clerics and kangaroo courts - is continuing to execute protesters, gays and minors. If these actions are the handiwork of religious individuals, then the world would be a far better place free of religion all together. Andrew Sullivan continues to be ahead of the curve in keeping focus on the horrific deeds being done in the name of the so-called Islamic republic in Iran. Murderers and butchers would better describe these foul, unholy monsters. The whole world needs to witness the barbarity that flows from unrestrained fundamentalist religious belief and pay head. Here are some highlights which are very disturbing:

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Iran's post-election turmoil and the ensuing human rights crisis entered a new phase this week, after authorities announced death sentences for four defendants following the mass trials held for more than a hundred people accused of fomenting unrest and challenging the election results. It has raised the specter of further political executions in Iran. Most ominously, the death sentences were announced on October 10th, the International Day Against the Death Penalty. On the same day, Iran put to death Behnoud Shojaii [pictured above], a juvenile offender, continuing Iran's distinction as the only country to execute juvenile offenders since 2008.

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The four defendants sentenced to death are not guilty of any violent actions and their indictments clearly state that the Intelligence Ministry arrested them "before they could engage in any action." Even under the existing laws, they could not be sentenced to death in fair trials. However, by using them as a front in a public relations ploy to justify death sentences in post-election trials, the government is pursuing two goals. First, the government is aiming to instill fear among reform-oriented Iranians, and raising the cost of participation in further protests, by signaling its power and determination to apply the death penalty at will. The second intent is to lay the groundwork for further political executions by desensitizing the broader population to state-sponsored violence.

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Behnoud Shojai, who was due to be hanged today, was just 17 when he stabbed a a boy with a shard of glass three years ago and sentenced to death. But charity Amnesty International say the killing was in self defence after Shojai, now 20, intervened to stop a fight between a friend and another boy and was threatened with a knife.

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I truly hope that LGBT citizens in the USA do not lose sight of the atrocities occurring in Iran and Iraq where gays are murdered and tortured at will due to religious based bigotry and hatred. It truly makes me sick - but we need to make sure that the world understands the evil being done in the name of religion. This is what happens when fundamentalist religion is allowed to run wild free of legal constraints. This is the type of theocracy that Pat Robertson, Bob McDonnell and other Christianist want to put in place in America.

Life for Gays At Virginia Tech - And In Virginia

There is no denying that Virginia is NOT a gay friendly state. We have no employment non-discrimination protections, we are excluded from all other state non-discrimination laws, a constitutional amendment to the state constitution bars and recognition of our relationships, and the state seems to have an over abundance of Bible beaters and professional Christians, not to mention "universities" founded by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. One lives one's life out and proud despite the hostile social/cultural climate which in rural areas in particular can be literally life threatening. Thus, I found it interesting when I came across a column in the Virginia Tech student newspaper that featured a letter received from an unnamed gay student at Virginia Tech (the #1 rival of the University of Virginia, my Alma mater). To better understand the student's feelings, one needs to remember that Virginia Tech is located in the very small town of Blacksburg which is socially light years away from Charlottesville, the home of UVA, which is among the most liberal cities in Virginia. Some of the sentiments expressed by this student resonate with me and I have indeed shared similar thoughts on some of the points mentioned. Here are some highlights from the Collegiate Times:

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I am a homosexual male growing up in a heterosexual society. I feel uncomfortable almost everywhere I am. I stereotype everyone, not to discriminate, but because I need to. I use it as a defense mechanism to target my oppressors. Darwin's theory, survival of the fittest, is not archaic; it applies to my everyday life. I know the weakest person will die off and I refuse to be that person.

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I live a normal life for the most part. I wake up, brush my teeth, shower, eat breakfast, go to class, and come back to my residence hall. I walk around this gorgeous Virginia Tech campus and all that people notice is me. The picture perfect scene is ruined. I am the outcast. I am the outlier you learned about in math class. I am just one of the many that are discriminated against everyday on this campus.

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I am an American, despite what many may say. I am just as much of an American as you. It was the Native Americans that were discriminated against first when their land was stolen from them. Then, the wave started. The Irish, blacks, Italians, Hispanics and homosexuals lined up as the next targets of hate. What is your ethnicity? Were you here first? Unless you are Native American, you weren't. Why do today's Americans feel that their very short presence on this land entitles them to decide who has the right to enter our land of opportunity? Our land: it's our land to be shared, not to own. We have all been discriminated against, but you don't remember. You never had to deal with it. Your parents might have, maybe your grandparents, or possibly your great-grandparents endured the sacrifices so you never would have to suffer discrimination. You just remember the privileges you have each and every day.

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Take a second and ponder the word homosexuality. What images or feelings are evoked? For most people, the word homosexuality conjures up images of gay sex. Now, stop and think about heterosexuality. For the word heterosexual, we think about two people in love. Did you ever realize that homosexuals are simply two people in love too? Has society affected you? If you don't think it has then why do you see such a huge difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality.

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Why do you fear me? Do you fear me because I am different? I don't call you names or go out of my way to hurt you. I don't yell redneck, hick, or white trash to those of you that so proudly display your Confederate heritage. I don't judge you, the upper class, for the endless privileges your parents provide you. Your tuition paid for, your new car, and your designer clothes all in hand with no questions asked. If you don't want to be me, then don't discriminate against me.

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Is your vocabulary so limited that you must hurt me with the words "gay" and "faggot"? I am not asking for a series of miracles or for you to change the world. I am simply asking you to stop and think. Really stop and ponder your actions and words. Please ask yourself the question: Who does this hurt? It hurts more than you will ever know.

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Having lived 37 years in the closet, I understand this student's world of fear and just wanting to survive all too well. In this modern and supposedly enlightened country, it is a travesty than citizens are treated in such a manner and have to face such bigotry - most of which traces back to poisonous religious based prejudice.

Friday Male Beauty

Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in Louisiana

Forty some years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, and this kind of crap is still happening. It is frightening, but it is consistent with the reactionary and anti-modernity mindset so common across the Bible Belt in the Deep South - which in my view includes very large portions of Virginia. The irony is that it's people like this jack ass justice of the peace who create the climate where bi-racial children need to worry about facing discrimination in the first place. It goes without saying that this guy needs to be fired immediately and I hope someone looks into what other bigotry may be going on in Tangipahoa Parish, located on the other side of Lake Ponchitrain from New Orleans. There are definitely times I wonder if some people - think professional Christian set - will ever wake up to the fact that even though we may be different, we are all fully human. Here are some highlights from Yahoo News:

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NEW ORLEANS – A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

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"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else." Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

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Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said. "There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it." If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.

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"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. She said the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 "that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."

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The ACLU sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, asking them to investigate Bardwell and recommending "the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice." "He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it," Schwartzmann said.

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Is this the kind of backward thinking path Virginia is headed down if the GOP Christian Taliban candidates win next month? It is something people ought to be asking themselves in Northern Virginia and the larger cities.

How Health Care Currently Works in the USA

Yes, it's only a cartoon, yet it is all too true in many circumstances. As I've also said before, why all the prescription drug ads on television? It cost millions and millions and none of us can get the stuff without a doctor's prescription, so why advertise? The savings from cutting the ads could - God forbid - be passed along to the public.

Stop the GOP From Taking Virginia Backwards

The title of this post sums up the basic message that the Falls Church News Press makes in an editorial that looks at the prospect of a GOP victory in the upcoming state wide elections in Virginia. Virginia's GLBT citizens already know that Virginia is not a diversity friendly state in many ways. Should Taliban Bob McDonnell and Ken Kook Cuccinelli be elected, the whole world will likely understand that reality. And some in Northern Virginia worry what kind of message that will send to progressive businesses and the world. Do we really need a governor who wants women at home barefoot and pregnant, gays locked in the closet, and yes, blacks who know their place? If you do, then Taliban Bob's your man. As for Cuccinelli, the man is a freaking nut case and I shudder at the thought of him in the attorney general's office. As an ultra-conservative Catholic, Cuccinelli like believes that the Spanish Inquisition represented the Church at its best. Here are some editorial highlights:

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It would be a terrible shame if, after a decade of progress in statewide elections for more progressive and inclusive values, the Commonwealth of Virginia next month were to take a reactionary lurch back toward its unsavory, intolerant past by electing the GOP's gubernatorial candidate, Bob McDonnell, in three weeks.We are alarmed by evidence from our own region of Northern Virginia that, barring a sharp change in local attitudes, this might happen.

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Virginia's success in being ranked again this year as the best state in the nation for doing business would be placed in serious jeopardy if a right-wing anti-social-inclusion candidate takes over as governor. The high-tech industries that continue to pile into Northern Virginia will suddenly think twice about their ability to hire and retain the best talent in an environment of perceived prejudice and bigotry.
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Nothing could kill a deal faster for a progressive high tech or industrial employer than to learn the state luring him just elected a protégé of right wing televangelist Pat Robertson, who has justified the contents of his law school thesis, written at age 34, calling women who work outside the home a detriment to society. He has a long record in the Virginia state legislature of voting against equal pay for women and for improved child care, in keeping with that philosophical view.

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[McDonnell] touts his eight years' service on the board of Robertson's Regent University, which has a policy asserting that "God instituted and defined the family as the primary civil institution of civil governance, designating a specific authority structure within the home," derived from the Biblical admonition, "Wives, submit to your husbands."

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McDonnell's latest revelation came in remarks to a Lynchburg newspaper's editorial board Tuesday stating that if elected he would not renew an executive order by Virginia's last two governors which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation for state job applicants. It is a matter of considerable urgency that McDonnell lose on Nov. 3.

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As for the "apathy and disinterest" in the election observed by the editorial board, I continue to blame a great deal of it on President Obama and the Congressional Democrats who have delivered largely nothing since taking office last January. What's the point of electing Democrats if they don't do anything and allow policy to be determined by the GOP anyway?

More Thursday Male Beauty

Virginia Supreme Court to Consider Property Ownership Dispute re Break Away Episcopal Parishes

I have written about this issue before and, it is sad that the Circuit Court that heard the original case involving the efforts of anti-gay elements in some Northern Virginia Episcopal parishes relied on a 1860's vintage statute in order to rule in favor of the break away elements. The statute in question was passed by the Virginia General Assembly in the 1860's to allow pro-slavery parishes of denominations - predominately Baptist parishes that became part of the Southern Baptist Convention - to abscond with the anti-slavery national denomination's property. Personally, I'd be more than a little embarrassed that if I needed to rely on a pro-slavery statute to prevail, not to mention that the break away elements of the Episcopal Church have aligned themselves with stridently homophobic and anti-modernity bishops within the Anglican Communion in Africa. Some, like Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Akinola, are thought to have possibly condoned the murder of Muslims, including women and children. How these break away elements view themselves as "good Christians" under these circumstances is more than a bit baffling to me. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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A years-long, multi-million-dollar land battle between the Episcopal Church in Virginia and conservatives who broke away from the denomination is headed back to court. The Virginia Supreme Court said today that it would hear an appeal by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia (which includes primarily northern and eastern Virginia) and the national church, which got clobbered in Fairfax Circuit Court last year.

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Other religious denominations, from Presbyterians to Conservative Judaism, are having similar disputes over human sexuality, and some have wound up in court battles over property rights. The legal issues are not exactly the same as in the Virginia case, but a few rulings this summer have mostly gone in favor of the denomination.

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The Virginia case also refers to a centuries-old code - a state statute called 57.9 that governs how church land is divided when there is a split in the congregation. It essentially says a majority vote of members is decisive.

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The Episcopal Church argued that the congregations never legally "divided," but rather a conservative faction (albeit the majority of members of those congregations) chose to leave, joining Anglican branches in Africa. But the judge sided with the breakaway members and ruled there was a division, thus making 57.9 applicable - and the majority votes.

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But the Episcopal denomination's argument is that, according to its internal rules, congregants can't just democratically vote their churches out of the denomination. Unlike Baptists, who are congregational, Episcopalians are hierarchical, which means church officials -- not individual congregations -- hold the land in trust. The denomination says state statute 57.9 is unconstitutional because it tells religious organizations how to govern their affairs, illegally mixing church and state.

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It's one of the most watched disputes of its kind in the country, primarily because so much money and land is at stake.

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To me, it is most telling that the modern day hate-filled bigots of the break away Episcopal elements are relying on a 140+ year old statute enacted to benefit previous hate-filled bigots in their effort to basically steal church property. Maybe these folks need to take a good long look at themselves in the mirror. Do they care nothing about how they will be viewed by future generations that will equate them with pro-slavery and segregationist racists?

Norfolk Country Club Bars Same-Sex Family Membership in Vote

UPDATED: For non-local readers, Mallory Country Club is in reality more of a neighborhood pool that drwas membership from the surrounding neighborhood where Shannon and Martha live. By making the cost twice that for couples, the real individual being punished is their oldest child.

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This article from the Virginian Pilot involves two friends of mine and their family. In fact, Shannon was one of the co-founders of HRBOR with me and is also one of this year's co-chair for the Equality Virginia Legends event on November 7, 2009, at the Waterside Marriott in Norfolk. With GOP candidate for governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, seeking to further roll back what few rights LGBT citizens in Virginia, the story is timely. The further irony is that for heterosexual couples seeking membership in the club, there is no due diligence done to confirm the marital status of couples seeking a family membership. As a result, from what I have heard, there ARE unmarried straight couples who belong to the club under a family membership. Thus, same sex couples are singled out for different treatment. The article is a window of the backward thinking so prevalent in this area. Even worse are some of the Christianist comments to the story. These people are only too happy to punish children for the perceived sins of their parents. It is beyond sick. Here are some highlights:
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Shannon Bowman and Martha Daas can join the Mallory Country Club, but not as a family. That's a problem for the two women, who united in what they consider a wedding more than two years ago, live under the same roof and are raising two children together.
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As a married couple, they would pay $1,000 to join the club and an annual rate of $630, said Lynn Tiedge, a club member. That's the same amount an individual pays to be in the club in West Ghent, Tiedge said. As Bowman and Daas see it, they are being asked to pay double the rate a married couple pays. Though Virginia law does not allow same-sex couples to wed, the women consider themselves married and would legally marry in the state if they could, they said.

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"It's not the money issue," Bowman said. "It's the principal point that we're not accepted as a family." If a vote taken by Mallory Country Club members is any indication, the fact that the family rate is not extended to cohabiting gay couples who are raising children is a concern of many members too. For them, it's not enough that gay people can join the club as individuals. About 180 votes were cast to support family memberships for same-sex couples with children, according to the club's Web site, at www.mallorycountryclub.com. Roughly 126 votes were cast against it.

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For the measure to pass, a two-thirds favorable vote is required, said Tiedge, who supports the measure and said she worked with at least 15 other club members to revise the club's bylaws to provide for it. Two-thirds of the 311 ballots cast would have been roughly 207 votes.
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Numerous club members contacted for this story did not return calls or did not want to comment publicly. It's not the first time this issue has surfaced at the club. In 2004, a similar measure was voted on by members and narrowly failed. The most recent efforts to change how the club charges same-sex couples with children living under one roof were launched earlier this year after Bowman, Daas and another same-sex couple with children tried to purchase a membership under the family rate, Tiedge said.
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Joseph George, a member of Mallory Country Club for about 40 years, voted against changing its practice. "I was not in favor of changing the bylaws to give homosexuals a preference when these people have every opportunity to have one of the members join the pool," George said. He said the other partner in the gay couple could have been designated a baby-sitter and brought the child to the pool "all along." Jim Farrell, Mallory Country Club president, would not elaborate on the issue.
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This type of religious based bigotry is symptomatic of why this area remains a relative backwater in terms of attracting first class progressive businesses. Low taxes are NOT the only thing companies look at when the consider relocating.

Thursday Male Beauty

Uganda Parliament Takes Up Anti-Gay Bill Adding Death Sentence and Bans on Free Speech

The Uganda Parliament has taken up consideration of a bill that no doubt would be a dream bill for Bob McDonnell, GOP candidate for governor of Virginia, Pat Robertson and The Family Foundation, Daddy Dobson's Virginia affiliate. Besides ending free speech, the bill would impose life sentences and even the death penalty in some cases on homosexuals. Never mind that Uganda is a hell hole with many far more pressing legislative and economic needs. Persecute the gays to change the topic. The bill represents religious based fanacticsm run wild and is the type of measure many extreme Christianists would love to see reapplied in the USA even if the don't come right out and say so. One can only hope that the bill does not pass into law, but given the anti-gay hysteria being whipped up by false Christians, that may be a futile hope. Here are some highlights from Box Turtle Bulletin:

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Uganda’s Parliament took up the new Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 today, giving the bill its first reading. Bills undergo three readings before becoming law. BTB previewed the bill last month when we received a surreptitious copy dated April 20. According to the pro-government New Vision newspaper, the bill appears unchanged from the earlier draft:

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Aggravated homosexuality will be punished by death, according to a new bill tabled in Parliament yesterday. …A person commits aggravated homosexuality when the victim is a person with disability or below the age of 18, or when the offender is HIV-positive. The bill thus equates aggravated homosexuality to aggravated defilement among people of different sexes, which also carries the death sentence.

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The Bill, entitled the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, also states that anyone who commits the offence of homosexuality will be liable to life imprisonment.

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The bill also proposes stiff sentences for people promoting homosexuality. They risk a fine of sh100m or prison sentences of five to seven years. This applies to people who produce, publish or distribute pornographic material for purposes of promoting homosexuality, fund or sponsor homosexuality.
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The bill’s language prohibiting “promoting homosexuality” does not restrict itself to “pornographic material.” That is an invetion of the New Vision reporter, who equates anything advocating on behalf of LGBT people as pornographic. Instead, the bill addresses anyone invloved in the “production, trafficking, procuring, marketing, broadcasting, disseminating, publishing homosexual materials,” or “who acts as an accomplice or attempts to legitimize or in any way abets homosexuality and related practices.”

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The bill also adds an unusual extraterritorial jurisdiction for those who are Ugandan citizens but who engage in same-sex relationships or LGBT advocacy overseas.

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Once again, religious shows its face as a great evil.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Vampires Hot Because Straight Girls Want Sex With Gay Guys?

I will confess that I always liked Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles because of the homo eroticism that seemed to be an under current throughout many of the books. That combined with the fact that the vampire characters were outcasts and "other" compared to most of society. It all definitely struck a chord with me - especially with Brad Pitt playing the role of Louis in Interview with a Vampire. Now, there are some who conjecture that the current vampire craze h as the eroticism of hot male vampires turning on straight women who lust after gay men. Admittedly, we are more sensitive, have better fashion sense, and can be a woman's best friend. But, they want us sexually? Here are some highlights from Esquire:

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Forget everything you've read about vampires so far. The current bloodsucking trend, achieving maximum ferocity in November with the release of the sequel to Twilight, isn't about outsiders or immigrants or religion or even AIDS, as critics and bloggers have argued ad nauseam these past few months. There's a much better, simpler, more obvious explanation: Vampires have overwhelmed pop culture because young straight women want to have sex with gay men. Not all young straight women, of course, but many, if not most, of them.

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The craving for vampire fiction is not a matter of taste but of urges; one does not read or watch it so much as inject it through the eyes, and like any epidemic, it's symptomatic of something much larger: a quiet but profound sexual revolution and a new acceptance of freakiness in mainstream American life.

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Vampires have always stalked the cultural landscape at moments of carnal crisis. The seminal short story "The Vampyre," written in 1819 by John Polidori, was based on his fascination with Lord Byron, the icon of Romantic sexual liberation and danger. The frisson of deviance was there right from the start: Nobody really knows what happened between Byron and Polidori, but both of their memoirs were destroyed for the sake of propriety.

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More recently, a small boom in vampire movies (The Hunger, The Lost Boys) coincided exactly with the rise of AIDS, their vampires intelligent and glamorous and doomed.
All these earlier iterations of the theme are not at all like vampire fiction today. Our vampires are normal.

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Edward, the romantic hero of the Twilight series, is a sweet, screwed-up high school kid, and at the beginning of his relationship with Bella, she is attracted to him because he is strange, beautiful, and seemingly repulsed by her. This exact scenario happened several times in my high school between straight girls and gay guys who either hadn't figured out they were gay or were still in the closet. Twilight's fantasy is that the gorgeous gay guy can be your boyfriend, and for the slightly awkward teenage girls who consume the books and movies, that's the clincher. Vampire fiction for young women is the equivalent of lesbian porn for men: Both create an atmosphere of sexual abandon that is nonthreatening. That's what everybody wants, isn't it? Sex that's dangerous and safe at the same time, risky but comfortable, gooey and violent but also traditional and loving.

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True Blood also casts its shadow on the romance between a young woman and a vampire, but unlike Twilight, which is all subtext and love-that-dare-not-speak-its-name, HBO's cult series connects vampirism to homosexuality explicitly.

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And so vampires have appeared to help America process its newfound acceptance of what so many once thought strange or abnormal. Adam and Steve who live on your corner with their adorable little son and run a bakery? The transgendered man who gave birth to a healthy baby? The teenage girl who wishes that all boys could be vampires? All part of the luscious and terrifying magic of today's sexual revolution. The political consequences are sweeping — Iowa's Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage is further proof of an old wise man's dictum that the United States invariably does the right thing, after first exhausting all the other alternatives — and the cultural impact is just beginning to be felt.

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I guess the next time I'm at a gay dance club and a woman comes up and dances with me, I will have to think twice about her motives. :)

Arrests Made in Two Violent Anti-Gay Attacks

The Christianists and professional Christian set make all kinds of untrue statements about gays and that we are a treat to marriage, the family and/or society. Unfortunately, there are those who listen to such hate filled language and sometimes they act on it, feeling justified in inflicting violence against innocent gays who are no threat to anyone. Other perpetrator of anti-gay violence in my view may also be taking their own self-hating homophobia on others since they cannot come to terms with their own sexuality. If you beat a gay severely or kill them, then naturally, you cannot be one of them - or so I suspect the thinking goes. It is disgusting and it is one of the direct fruits of Christianist anti-gay propaganda. First some highlights concerning an arrest in Florida where an 18 year old is alleged to have beaten a gay man to death via the Miami Herald:

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An 18-year-old was arrested Tuesday in the beating death of an Oakland Park man, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. Chad Alexander Olah, who was 17 at the time of the April assault, is being held at the Juvenile Assessment Center on a charge of murder and strong arm robbery in two attacks.
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Craig Cohen, 47, was beaten in the early hours of April 6 and left on an Oakland Park sidewalk. He was in a coma for months after the attack and died last week. Cohen was gay, but authorities did not charge the attackers with a hate crime, saying he was the victim of a group of drunk attackers looking to beat and rob someone. Olah and two other men had been hanging out at a nearby home, talking about how it'd be fun to rob and beat someone, BSO said.

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Closer to home, Daniel Rodriguez (pictured above), who authorities say was involved in the savage beating of a Queens, New York man last week, was arrested here in Norfolk, Virginia after apparently fleeing the New York area. The Virginian Pilot has the following:

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A second suspect has been arrested in the apparent hate assault that left a 49-year-old New York City gay man in a medically induced coma. Police say 21-year-old Daniel Rodriguez was taken into custody in Norfolk on Tuesday night. Charges are pending and NYPD detectives are in the process of returning him to New York. Rodriguez waived extradition in Norfolk General District Court Wednesday morning, according to an e-mail from the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

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Earlier Tuesday, 26-year-old Daniel Aleman was arraigned on a charge of assault as a hate crimes. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. A telephone call to his attorney was not immediately returned. Investigators say the two Queens men taunted Jack Price and yelled anti-gay slurs before punching and kicking him last Thursday after he left a 24-hour deli near his home in Queens. Price suffered a fractured jaw and ribs, the collapse of both of his lungs, and a lacerated spleen.

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Yes, there are bad seeds everywhere, but it does seem that there has been a spike in anti-gay violence that coincides with all of the Christianist anti-gay propaganda. With the constant message being disseminated that gays are a hazard to marriage, society and civilization itself, it is not surprising that bigots feel they have a licence to harm us and kill us.

Wednesday Male Beauty

Harry Reid Rips LDS Church's Prop. 8 Support

In an example that at least some politicians grasp the concept of separation of church and state and the fact that the CIVIL laws should not codify one particular set of religious beliefs to the detriment of other citizens, Senator Harry Reid has blasted the Mormon Church for its involvement in the passage of Proposition 8 and efforts in other anti-gay initiatives. It's be nice if the Catholic Church listened to Reid's comments because they apply to the despicable Church hierarchy and Knights of Columbus as well. It's a sad situation, but the Mormons and many alleged Christian denominations are more defined by their hate and bigotry towards others than by their adherence to the principles of the Gospels. Here are some highlights from the Salt Lake Tribune on Reid's smack down of the LDS leadership:

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In a meeting with gay-rights activists last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized the LDS Church for backing a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in California, saying the leaders of his faith should have stayed out of the contentious political fight. Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, is the highest ranking elected official who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He previously has not commented on the flood of Mormon money and volunteers who helped propel Proposition 8 to victory in November.

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"He said that he thought it was a waste of church resources and good will," said Derek Washington, a Nevadan who worked as the outreach director for the march. "He said he didn't think it was appropriate." . . . "he also believes that the resources that went into the Proposition 8 effort could have been put to better use." LDS Church officials declined to comment Monday.

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In the meeting, those present touched on issues most important to them. Dan Choi, a veteran of the Iraq War, who was booted from the military under the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, thanked Reid for lobbying President Barack Obama on his behalf. Robin McGehee, of California, talked about her own family. Then, McGehee said, Reid brought up his LDS faith and discussed a recent meeting with Mormons in which he criticized the Prop 8 efforts. He personally said they needed to be focused on other things," she said, "and he felt it was harmful for the church to focus on such a divisive issue."

McDonnell Won't Renew Ban on Discrimination Against Gays

Taliban Bob McDonnell doesn't believe in discrimination - except when he does. Like most of his campaign spin, McDonnell's claims that his views on gays and belief that gays should not face discrimination is a lie. In a statement that likely sent Pat Robertson and the folks at The Family Foundation into orgasms, McDonnell says he will not renew the Executive Orders signed by Governors Warner and Kaine that banned employment discrimination based on sexual orientation by state agencies and authorities. I guess next McDonnell will want to amend the Canons of Judicial Conduct to remove prohibitions on judicial bias based on sexual orientation - not that many judges actually heed the prohibition in reality. Despite all his claims to the contrary, McDonnell still rigidly adheres to the views set out in his CBN University thesis. If McDonnell and Ken "Kook" Cuccinelli are elected, Virginia will move backwards on many issues. Here are highlights from the Lynchburg News and Advance:

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell said Tuesday he would not renew an executive order by Virginia’s last two governors that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation for state job applicants. “I think it would be illegal to carry it forward” if he is elected governor, McDonnell said in an interview Tuesday with The News & Advance’s editorial board.

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McDonnell said during a debate Monday night with his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, that the executive order overstepped the governor’s authority. McDonnell said he told Kaine, in an opinion in 2006, that the non-discrimination issues in employment were the General Assembly’s responsibility and not the governor’s.

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Deeds has not taken a prominent role in the discrimination debate, although he cosponsored a bill in 2008 that would have prohibited discrimination based on several factors, one of which was sexual orientation. The bill never made it out of a House committee.

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My advice to gays thinking of moving to Virginia, as in the past, is don't. For gays already here, leave if you can. McDonnell's statement confirms that the only way in which Virginia will stop the open season on GLBT citizens is to have FEDERAL legislation end it, be it Congressional action or by U. S. Supreme Court ruling as in Lawrence v. Texas and Loving v. Virginia, which ended bans on interracial marriage. Virginia is a very bigoted state.

Where Goes the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

Whether or not it was his intent, Andrew Sullivan set off a firestorm of debate within the LGBT blogger and activist network by calling for the resignation of Human Rights Campaign executive director Joe Solmonese. Here's a clip of the video:
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Unfortunately, too much of the debate seems to be about Andrew - or outright personal attacks on him - rather that the root issues behind his comment: does HRC currently represent the entire LGBT community or mostly a wealthy few; does HRC in essence lie about the size of its membership; has HRC been too reluctant to push politicians for real action and become co-opted by the Democrat Party - to list only a few?

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As I have stated before, I am no fan of HRC as it currently operates. When it comes to aiding those out in the trenches, from my experience, HRC is generally missing in action. The prime example that I have mentioned before is a case now on appeal here in Virginia that involves Timothy Kaine's Executive Order 1 (2006) that allegedly protects Virginia state employees from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Throughout this case Gov. Kaine has done NOTHING to enforce compliance with the Executive Order by those HE appoints to state agencies, boards and departments. When first asked for assistance, the HRC response was that it had a good relationship with Gov. Kaine and did not want to be involved in anything that might upset him. Later when the notice of appeal from the Circuit Court level was noted, I was contacted by HRC which wanted all available information so that it could assist. I've never heard back from HRC to this date.

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As for members, HRC according to well placed sources, uses a byzantine system for calculating members. Even though I have not donated a penny in years, I am most likely still counted as an HRC member. The result is a fraudulent membership count that allows HRC to market itself as representative of all elements of the LGBT community. In reality, HRC represents the small number of large donors and those well heeled enough to purchase tickets to its endless fundraiser dinners. If as much effort went into lobbying Congress as seems to go into organizing dinners, ENDA would be passed by now and DADT would likely be repealed. And let's not forget the arrogance and condescension that Solmonese has exhibited towards rank and file LGBT Americans. Pam Spaulding takes a good look at this behavior:

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HRC's Solmonese: dinner attendees 'more politically aware', have 'better sense of what's at stake' - Those are his words, not mine. Joe Solmonese said them to CNN's Don Lemon in an interview on Sunday that hasn't received much play, and there are some interesting nuggets that reveal more about thinking inside the org than he probably meant to share. It's rare to see the whole diversity/class/power dynamic that vexes the LGBT movement opened up since it's a third rail topic that tends to give some with privilege a case of defensive agita. It's likely this unintentional level of candor won't be seen again any time soon.

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A couple of things are quite notable. Lemon asks about the diversity issue within HRC. Solmonese can't answer that question without either fibbing or going down a really uncomfortable path, so Joe chooses to answer the question in terms of paid membership, so he can reference the multitude of small dollar donors. Those donors weren't at the dinner, nor are they in leadership positions or on the board of the advocacy org. The real boo-boo, however, is the claim that the crowd attending the annual dinner is more politically engaged, more boned-up on the issues, and even more incredibly, know more than you folks out there -- living in places where you have no rights whatsoever -- about what is at stake.

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By raising the value of the attendees as "the players" who know better, he's essentially confirming all of the worst stereotypes. Those skeptics outside of the LGBT sphere who saw that non-diverse audience that night are even less likely to support LGBT issues.

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Our movement needs to address how our largest LGBT organization can represent the reality of LGBT America, because its representative just let everyone know that in HRC's reality, the right mix - the most effective mix - of people in the LGBT equality movement attended that annual dinner. I'm not sure how the rest of us rate other than as a small dollar GAyTM. Maybe Joe will tell us the next time he's on the air.

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HRC COULD be a wonderful organization that does great good for the LGBT cause. But it is NOT that kind of organization at present. The first step is a change of leadership and I agree with Andrew Sullivan that the resignation of Solmonese would be a good first step. I'd also suggest hiring people more committed to the cause who do not need obscene salaries to supposedly fight for the rights of all of us. I want a palace coup at HRC, not its destruction.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

The Ghost of Bill Clinton

While we never ran into them among the huge throng at the National Equality March, my friend Wayne Besen and his partner Jamie (at left) - we last saw then in NYC in mid-September - were in Washington as well for the March. Not finding friends was a frequent situation I suspect given how huge the crowd turned out to be despite the grumblings of naysayers in advance of the March. Like me, Jamie is a relative newcomer to the gay activist world and Wayne's column at Truth Wins Out reinforces some of the views I expressed in prior posts on why the March was a success. Here are some highlights from Wayne's column:

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It was thrilling to participate in the National Equality March (NEM) in Washington on Sunday. The event, although smaller than in past years, achieved the desired goal of drawing the nation’s attention to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration were also put on notice that an anxiety-filled GLBT community demanded action, not just flowery words.

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While this was my third march, it was inspiring to see this event through the fresh eyes of Jamie, my partner. He is thirty years old and grew up in a small town in rural Nebraska (population 700). From his vantage point, the march was an extraordinarily life-affirming event. He shared the same look of awe and empowerment that was on the faces of the energetic youth in DC, who will one day become our leaders.

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The NEM occurred over the objections of Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), who said that the spectacle was a “waste of time.” If I were Frank, I’d be more concerned about not delivering on GLBT issues while the Democrats control Washington. This may cause disillusionment, leading some people to believe that voting is a “waste of time.”

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[W]e sometimes must supplement traditional politics with demonstrations, marches and moral persuasion in the media – anything to get America to listen to what we have to say. The march did achieve spotlighting our issues in a way that postcards to the White House never could.

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As expected, President Barack Obama’s soaring oratory delighted the sold out crowd at the Human Rights Campaign’s national dinner. . . . Unfortunately, when I woke up, as I told MSNBC, I was still a second-class citizen. We must continue to hold Obama accountable, but also, as the Washington Post editorial board says, pressure Congress to take action.

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Those preaching infinite patience must remember that 15 years have passed since the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell debacle. Despite the raucous protests of bigots, most Americans are now mature enough to handle GLBT rights. My own activist philosophy is simple: Never pass up an opportunity to complement the Obama administration or Congress when they earn it. But, never give a pass to politicians who do not embrace full-equality.

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Wayne makes great points and I wish the boyfriend and I had been able to connect with Jamie and him. We truly cannot let up the pressure on Obama and the Congressional Democrats. For too long, HRC and similar groups have been to hesitant to demand real action.