Patrick Swayze Dead at 57

I have always liked Patrick Swayze both as an actor and as a guy who seemed to have his head together - something not all that common in Holywood. He did a lot of great movies and, of course for the LGBT community his role in drag in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" will always be remembered as both outrageous and touching. His death also hits home since he was just 6 days younger than I am. And like Farrah Fawcett, Swayze demonstrated class and great bravery in fighting the cancer that eventually took his life. May he rest in peace. Here are some highlights from the New York Times:

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Patrick Swayze, the balletically athletic actor who rose to stardom in the films “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” and whose 20-month battle with advanced pancreatic cancer drew wide attention, died Monday. He was 57.

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Mr. Swayze’s cancer was diagnosed in January 2008. Six months later he had already outlived his prognosis and was filmed at an airport, smiling at photographers and calling himself, only half-facetiously, “a miracle dude.”

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Mr. Swayze rose to stardom in 1987. He had received attention in several early movies and in the mini-series “North and South,” but the coming-of-age film “Dirty Dancing” established him as a romantic leading man. He starred opposite Jennifer Grey as a young working-class dance instructor at a Catskills resort who proved to have more heart, integrity and sex appeal than many of the wealthy guests with whom he was forbidden to fraternize. He exhibited similar emotional intensity in the supernatural romance “Ghost” (1990), an enormous box-office hit.

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Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on Aug. 18, 1952, in Houston, the son of Jesse Wayne Swayze, an engineer and rodeo cowboy, and Patsy Swayze, a dance instructor and choreographer. He began dancing as a child and was often teased about it. But he was also a student athlete, and his dancing career was hampered by a football injury.

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During the 1990s he was a bank-robbing surfer in “Point Break” (1991) and a drag queen with the daunting name Vida Boheme in “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” (1995). “To Wong Foo” earned him his third Golden Globe nomination. (The others were for “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost.”)

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As a young unknown, Mr. Swayze met Lisa Niemi, a fellow Houstonian, in one of his mother’s dance classes. They married in 1975. She survives him, along with his mother; two brothers, Don and Sean; and a sister, Bambi. Another sister, Vicky, died in 1994.

Monday Male Beauty

Blogger and Activist Meet Up

While in New York City I received a telephone call from Lyndon at Focus on the Rainbow - one of the first bloggers I spoke with other than online - and then ran in to Nelson from NG Blog in the West Village. Then by sheer coincidence we ran into Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out and his partner on Saturday evening at a bar named Pieces just down the street from our friend's apartment we stay at when in NYC. Wayne and I first met back on July, 2003, when we worked together to out former national ex-gay poster boy Michael Johnston who was sleeping around with men in the Hampton Roads area - where Johnston is originally from - under and assumed name. Meanwhile his videos and books claiming that he was "cured" from homosexuality by accepting Jesus were being sold by all the leading professional Christian organizations.

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Both Lyndon and Nelson offered me encouragement in dealing with the post divorce war nightmare and had the chance to speak with the boyfriend as well. Lyndon - who began blogging at about the same time I did - in particular has been a loyal cyberspace friend and often drops me e-mails or forwards some outrageous story that he or one of our e-mail network contacts stumbles across.

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As for Wayne and Jaime (who is a sweetheart), we had a great visit catching up and by the time it was over we'd invited them to come down and visit the various historical attractions in southeast Virginia. The Internet and blogging are amazing in terms of the power provided to meet people and disseminate information. Blogging has truly helped keep me sane (or semi-sane) during some of my darkest times over the last two and a half years.

Internal E-Mail Shows Bob McDonnell is Running Hard From His Thesis and His Record

The Virginia race for governor continues as a circus as Taliban Bob McDonnell refuses to answer questions about his 1989 thesis, which based on McDonnell's legislative record and years as attorney general HAS been his constant blue print, and seeks to change the subject. For his part Creigh Deeds continues to grapple to find a clear message other than that he is not Bob McDonnell. In a hilarious development, an e-mail from the McDonnell campaign on how supporters should tailor letters to the editor to help the effort to change the subject has been obtained by the Star City Harbinger. The thirty "talking points" disseminated in the e-mail are telling on how important it is to the McDonnell camp to avoid questions on McDonnell's extremism. The story deserves a full read and it demonstrates that more effort needs to be made to link McDonnell's record to the thesis since, if done correctly, it makes it obvious that Taliban Bob's professed moderation is bullshit. Here are some highlights:

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Star City Harbinger was forwarded an internal email from the McDonnell campaign to supporters in a county GOP committee. In the email, McDonnell campaign spokesperson Taylor Thornley instructs supporters regarding how to write Letters to the Editor of their local newspapers to counter press accounts of Mr. McDonnell’s 20-year old thesis at Regent University–“The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade”–which sets out moral principles overtly critical of women, welfare recipients and the gay and lesbian community. Thornley lays out 30 “talking points” for McDonnell campaign supporters to use in their Letters to the Editor in local and regional newspapers.

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Thornley cautions email recipients not to “copy/paste these talking points word for word. . . [w]e would love to get as many letters placed as possible so if you have friends you know of that would be interested in writing letters please feel free to get them involved in this project–however I ask that you please do not forward this e-mail around from me.”

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Similarly, the Sun Gazette Newspaper’s online edition–written to “reach the most affluent areas” of the DC suburbs–contains a Letter to the Editor “placed” last week which repeats nearly verbatim some of Thornley’s 30 points.

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In other words, the McDonnell campaign admits that the purpose of the paper was to suggest ways of changing governmental policy to reflect the values and views expressed in the thesis, and this talking point wasn’t written 20 years ago but on September 3rd, 2009.

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The McDonnell campaign knows it has to hold on to its lead among moderates and Independents which is much more narrow than in general polls. Thornley’s desperate email is indicative of a campaign that has finally been forced on the defensive for something that matters as Virginia becomes more urban, diverse and reliant on tourism and international business for its economic base.

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I truly hope the wider media picks up on this e-mail debacle and keeps the discussion going on McDonnell's thesis and his record that consistently conforms to it over the last 20 years.

Islamist Gangs Use Internet to Track, Torture and Kill Iraqi Gays

Britain's Guardian has a sickening story on how Islamic gangs are tracking and murdering gay Iraqis - like the murdered young men in the photo above. Meanwhile the U.S. military and the puppet government of Iran do nothing to stop the disgusting slaughter. It truly makes me sick - and again think that religion more often than not is one of the greatest evils on the earth. One also has to wonder about the mindset and sexual identity issues of someone who would track down gays in the manner described in the article. Sadly, this type of hate and murder is the ultimate fruit of religious extremism be it Islamic or Christian. Something needs to be done to stop this horror. Here are highlights from the Guardian:

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Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims. "It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

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Hamizi, a computer science graduate, is at the cutting edge of a new wave of violence against gay men in Iraq. Made up of hardline extremists, Hamizi's group and others like it are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year alone.

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The deputy leader of the group, which is based in Baghdad, explained its campaign using a stream of homophobic invective. "Animals deserve more pity than the dirty people who practise such sexual depraved acts," he told the Observer. "We make sure they know why they are being held and give them the chance to ask God's forgiveness before they are killed."

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Homosexuality was not criminalised under Saddam Hussein – indeed Iraq in the 1960s and 1970s was known for its relatively liberated gay scene. Violence against gays started in the aftermath of the invasion in 2003. Since 2004, according to Ali Hali, chairman of the Iraqi LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) group, a London-based human-rights group, a total of 680 have died in Iraq, with at least 70 of those in the past five months. The group believes the figures may be higher, as most cases involving married men are not reported. Seven victims were women. According to Hali, Iraq has become "the worst place for homosexuals on Earth".

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The killings are brutal, with victims ritually tortured. Azhar al-Saeed's son was one. . . . "We found his body with signs of torture, his anus filled with glue and without his genitals," she said. "I will carry this image with me until my dying day."

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The irony is that these ignorant Islamic extremist don't realize that in the Persian Empire at the height of its power - which stretched from India to the eastern most Greek Islands - homosexuality was accepted and indeed a number of the emperors had their make lovers and eunuchs. It was not until Christianity and Islam spread across the western and eastern portions of the former empire did homosexuality become condemned. Like Christian fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalism needs an ignorant, uninformed population to flourish. As for Iraq, I hope the Chimperator and his Christian Right extremists are happy with the fate of Iraqi gays.

More Sunday Male Beauty

South Carolina's Joe Wilson and GOP Racism

I have already touched on the rising racism within the Republican Party - or at least a more visible and dangerous form racism from that of the past - and Barack Obama seems to be the epitome of the fears of these insecure "patriotic Americans:" the loss of white privilege and white domination of all aspects of U.S. society. Walking around New York City today and this evening, yes, the city is definitely more racially diverse than it was say 30 years ago. But what is wrong with that? Nothing in my opinion. Yet this changing population nation wide scares the Hell out of the GOP base which wants everything and everyone to reflect their white bread world. Maureen Dowd has a great column in the New York Times that skewers South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson that is too good to not mention and in it she looks at the underlying racism behind this summer of madness on the far right, Here are some highlights:

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The normally nonchalant Barack Obama looked nonplussed, as Nancy Pelosi glowered behind. Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!

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The congressman, we learned, belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina’s state Capitol and denounced as a “smear” the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the ’48 segregationist candidate for president. Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.

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I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer — the frantic efforts to paint our first black president as the Other, a foreigner, socialist, fascist, Marxist, racist, Commie, Nazi; a cad who would snuff old people; a snake who would indoctrinate kids — had much to do with race. . . . . But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

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Even if he and the coterie of white male advisers around him don’t choose to openly acknowledge it, this president is the ultimate civil rights figure — a black man whose legitimacy is constantly challenged by a loco fringe. For two centuries, the South has feared a takeover by blacks or the feds. In Obama, they have both.

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The New York Daily News likewise had commentary on Joe Wilson and those of his ilk. Here are some highlights:

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A class act he is not, but South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's boorish behavior during President Obama's speech on health reform more than earned him his 15 minutes of infamy. It is understandable that he chose - or as some suggested, was told - to bellow "You lie!" when the President was explaining for the umpteenth time that undocumented immigrants would not be covered under health care legislation. After all, Wilson's extreme anti-immigrant positions are well known.

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Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst is not only a massive breach of decorum," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, "but the latest example of how race-baiting and immigrant bashing have become standard fare for hard-right elements of the Republican Party." One has to wonder if Wilson and his ilk are intent on committing political suicide - and in the process taking down with them the entire GOP - or if their prejudices are so deep that they just cannot help themselves.

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[E]ven if Wilson and his cohorts do not like it, Latinos are the fastest-growing group of new voters in the nation. And they can be sure that mistreating, dehumanizing and disrespecting Latinos - and immigrants in general - is not going to help them win their hearts and minds. There will be hell to pay at the polls.

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Ironically, after all is said and done, Joe (You lie!) Wilson's outburst could go down in history as the death knell for the most reactionary and extremist wing of the Republican Party. Call it poetic justice.

New Model For Seminaries Will Produce Even More Out of Touch Priests

Having been raised Roman Catholic and been an altar boy for ten years, I have had my share of interaction with priests and even a couple of bishops. Then during my closeted married years as a parishioner I often was utter frustrated with trying to discuss common sense real world issues with parish pastors. Throughout this time frame I noticed a couple of things: (1) all too often priests were given unquestioning deference even when they clearly were out in left field and (2) most had absolutely no real world experience or any remote concept of what married couples with families go through. Between having housekeepers and fawning church women pandering to them, they had few household worries, had more vacation time then most married men, and often had more disposable income with which to indulge themselves than parents raising children. In short, they were clueless and had at best limited ability to understand family dynamics and struggles.

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Now the Church - rather than allowing women and married priests - come up with some pilot programs for restructuring seminaries and the training of celibate priests. If anything, programs like the one described in a San Francisco Chronicle story seem likely to lead only to even more unthinking blind obedience to the corrupt Church hierarchy and more priests with no real world experience , common sense, or normal emotional maturity (one of the factors some psychologists cite as a root of the sexual abuse of minors by priests). Here are some highlights:
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The seminarians' wallets are empty, except for driver's licenses and insurance cards. To buy cigarettes or clothes or anything else, they must ask their superiors for money - an exercise in obedience and a reminder that material things aren't important.

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They have virtually no time alone, on or off campus, and are required to travel in pairs, "two by two," like Jesus' disciples. They live in a world without cell phones or personal computers, and their evenings end promptly at 10.

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Redemptoris Mater is a new experiment in molding Catholic priests who are faithful to church teaching and authority and zealous in their desire to lead other Catholics down that same road. On the one hand, the rules are a throwback to 50 years ago, when would-be priests led regimented existences apart from the rest of the world. But Redemptoris Mater men also teach the faith at parishes and spend two years on mission trips, knocking on doors looking for Catholics in Bronx housing projects or Minneapolis suburbs.

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All told, there are 33 students from 14 countries. In this, they reflect the changing face of the U.S. priesthood. Their greater ethnic diversity and hunger to show fidelity to the church are hallmarks of the coming generation of priests, . . .

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In other ways, Redemptoris Mater seminarians stand apart from their peers. The seminary is not the province of a religious order or a diocese headed by priests and bishops. Instead, Redemptoris Mater seminarians and the priests who oversee them come from Neocatechumenal Way communities. . . . The group's approach to discipline at the seminaries it operates in the United States (besides Denver, Redemptoris Mater seminaries have opened in Boston; Dallas; Newark, N.J.; and Washington, D.C.) has attracted notice in important places.

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When a Vatican office summarized a 2005-06 study of U.S. seminaries seeking answers to the clergy sex abuse scandal, it recommended that seminaries make their rules more demanding so men shed a "worldly style of life" - and it suggested that Redemptoris Mater seminaries were examples worth following.

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The reasons for decline [in vocations to the priesthood] may be in dispute, but the numbers are not: The number of priests in the United States has dropped from 58,000, in 1965, to 40,000 today. The past decade has seen an uptick in ordinations; this year's class is 472, up from 442 in 2000. But it's still not enough to replenish the priesthood's aging ranks.

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In my view, the Church has yet to understand that what worked with an uneducated laity and in a world without instant access to information just doesn't cut it in today's world. The dictatorial structure of the Church hierarchy and its increasing refusal to embrace modern knowledge are things that thinking people no longer will blindly accept. In truth - as I have posted previously - but for the influx of Hispanic immigrants, most of whom are Catholic, the Church did not grow in the USA. The only real growth has been in backward and uneducated parts of the world. The Redmtoris Mater model may work in training priests for those backward growth areas of the world, but I suspect they will not do well in the USA. Certainly not inareas outside of rural and ultra-conservative areas. And most of these areas are not heavily Catholic to begin with.

Sunday Male Beauty

Washington Teabaggers: White, Redneck, Racist and Crazy

The numerous media stories on yesterday's teabagger event in Washington, D.C., confirm several things about the teabaggers and what is left of the base of the Republican Party. The Party is now comprised of older whites, racist rednecks and those who are frighteningly delusional. The only good news concerning the event is that the organizers failed to turn out anywhere near the number of protesters promised and according to some reports even resorted to offering up a phony photo to try to back up turnout claims. The only problem? The weather conditions in the photo did not match the actual weather conditions in Washington, D.C., yesterday. Yet more evidence of the mental powers - or lack thereof - and general instability of the teabagger crowd. Think Progress has some telling information on some of the sponsor of the event as well:

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There were several hate groups among the various corporate and Republican organizations paying FreedomWorks to help finance the rally. The National Association for Rural Landowners, a bronze sponsor, references the incidents at Waco and Ruby Ridge to call for attacks on “government entities” and liberals. In a YouTube video posted in July, the group makes the case for a secession, followed by a violent civil war. Another 9/12 cosponsor, FreeRepublic, is a forum for various radical right causes and as ThinkProgress reported, the shooter at the Holocaust museum found a welcome audience for his writings on the website.

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Being in New York City and marveling at the racial and cultural diversity of the population, I can only image what the teabaggers must think of cities like New York and the concept of races living and working side by side. Frankly, I just cannot understand the irrational fear of other people just because they look different, may hold differing religious beliefs, or are attracted to those of their own gender. I - and others - also find it very disturbing that prominent GOP elected officials are not running screaming from the teabagger crowd and disavowing the outright racism and hatred that simmer just below the surface. These Party leaders are becoming as crazy as the party base and none of it bodes well for the nation. Here are more highlights:

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In an interview with the Washington Independent, [Senator Jim] DeMint [R-SC] claimed that the attendees at the march were “a cross-section of the population.” When it was pointed out to him that almost everyone there was white, DeMint simply said, “It’s probably just the time and organization and the media that promoted it.”

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Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign, has warned conservatives from embracing events like the 9/12 March. “It’s bad for Republicans because in the absence of any real leadership, the freaks fill the void and define the party,” McKinnon said.