Broadway Impact's New Ad Supporting the National Equality March

A national effort is truly needed to secure federal legislation protecting LGBT Americans from discrimination (which is based on religion ultimately). One's rights as an American citizen should not be dependent upon which state in which one happens to reside. The current second class status of LGBT Americans in most states makes a mockery of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution .

Wednesday Male Beauty

More Big Name Endorsers for the National Equality March

Towleroad has a new post concerning the growing support for the National Equality March from members of the entertainment industry and some religious leaders. I hope the excitement about the march will grow and that people will make an effort to be in Washington on October 10-11, 2009, to help draw attention to the plight of LGBT Americans who continue to be treated equally under the U.S. Constitution and who are routinely discriminated against based on religious grounds - discrimination that has no place under the civil laws. Here are highlights from Towleroad:

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The National Equality March seeks equal protection in all matters governed by law in all 50 states. Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen praised the entertainment industry for coming forward in support of the March, "We are thrilled to have this impressive, ever-growing group of extraordinarily talented entertainment industry luminaries from stage, screen, television and the arts endorsing the march. As the demand for full LGBT Federal rights grows in all corners of the country, adding the support of these wonderful LGBT and straight friends of ours will continue to broaden the impact of what is being planned for October 11th in our nation's Capitol."

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Here are the new endorsers of the March:
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ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY ENDORSEMENTS
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Calpernia Addams, author, actor and musician
Jane Anderson, Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, playwright and director
Paris Barclay, Emmy Award-winning director
Annette Bening, Oscar-nominated actor
Greg Berlanti, writer, producer and director
David Dean Bottrell, screenwriter
The Rev. Canon Malcolm Boyd, author and Episcopal priest
Victor Bumbalo, actor and playwright
Ilene Chaiken, creator, writer, and executive producer, “The L Word”
Wilson Cruz, actor
Dana Delaney, Emmy Award-winning actor
Ronald Dennis, actor, dancer, and singer
Melissa Etheridge, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and musician
Joely Fisher, actor
Carrie Fisher, actor, screenwriter and novelist
James Franco, Golden Globe Award-winning actor
David Marshall Grant, Tony Award-nominated actor
Ellen Greene, Tony Award-nominated actor
Trebor Healy, poet and novelist
Helen Hunt, Academy Award-winning actor
Dave Koz, Grammy Award-nominated musician
Susan Krebs, jazz vocalist
Swoosie Kurtz, Emmy Award-winning actor
Chad Lowe, Emmy Award-winning actor
Camryn Manheim, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award-nominated actor
Ewan McGregor, Golden Globe Award-nominated actor
Sir Ian McKellen, Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor
Julianne Moore, Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-nominated actor
Max Mutchnick, Emmy Award-winning producer
Kathy Najimy, actor
Ken Page, actor and cabaret singer
Peter Paige, actor, “Queer as Folk”
Pauley Perrette, actor and civil rights activist
Felice Picano, PEN Award-winning writer
David Hyde Pierce, Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning actor
David O. Russell, director
Meg Ryan, actor
Eduardo Santiago, author
Mark Thompson, author and gay activist
Marisa Tomei, Academy Award-winning actor
Liz Torres, Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-nominated actor
Gus Van Sant, Academy Award-nominated director, “Milk”
Ann Walker, actor
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FAITH LEADERS
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Rev. Samuel Chu, Interim Executive Director of California Faith for Equality
Rabbi Mark Diamond, Exec. Vice President of the Southern California Board of Rabbis
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Rabbi Denise Eger, President of Pacific Association of Former Rabbis
Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College
Rabbi Steven A. Fox, Exec. Vice President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs, Chair of the Progressive Jewish Foundation
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah,
NYCBishop Eugene Robinson, Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Rev. Susan Russell, President of Integrity
Rev. Neil G. Thomas, Chair of California Faith for Equality and Sr. Pastor MCC
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform of Judaism

Message to GOP: Major Employers and Chamber of Commerce Support Gay Partnership Rights

One fact that the wingnuts in Virginia - and that includes GOP candidates Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "I'm a Nutcase" Cuccinelli - is that employers FAVOR diversity and equal treatment of LGBT employees. While the theocrats and teabaggers who comprise the base of the GOP hate everyone who is not white and an adherent to their style of intolerant Christianity, that world view is increasingly unattractive to the business community and is becoming a larger deterrent to businesses seeking to relocate. Northern Virginia has suffered less that the rest of the state for the simple reason that Washington, D.C., and its far more liberal and accepting laws is in close proximity. The most backward areas of the state - which generally also have the highest unemployment - are those areas that embrace the Christian Taliban mindset of Bob McDonnell and his mentors, Pat Robertson and The Family Foundation. What is happening in Washington State ought to make voters seeking new jobs and employers wake up. Here some highlights from The Stranger.com:

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In the footsteps of five large companies that issued a statement yesterday, the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce came out today in favor of approving Referendum 71, thereby upholding the domestic partnership bill.

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“This law is about the rights and responsibilities of adults in committed relationships raising families, running businesses and owning property. Diversity and inclusiveness in the workplace, and in our state as a whole, are core values in our business community,” Chamber chair Tayloe Washburn said in a statement. “We must protect and enhance them if we want to attract, retain and grow the talented workforce needed to stay competitive in the global economy. Supporting the Approve R-71 campaign sends the right message about the economic environment we have and want. ”

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The five big corporations that are supporting the upholding of domestic partnership in the face of Christianist efforts to overturn the law are major players. If these are the types of employers Virginia wants to attract outside of places other than Northern Virginia, Virginians and the Virginia General Assembly need to wake up. Here's more on the five corporations:

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In a move that's certain to draw fire from religious conservatives, five companies have come out gunning for Washington voters to approve Referendum 71, thereby upholding the domestic-partnership bill passed by the legislature this year. The Boeing Company, Microsoft Corporation, Nike, Puget Sound Energy, RealNetworks and Vulcan Inc issued an enlightened statement today, saying that they "respect and support employees with diverse backgrounds" and that "Overturning this law would undo years of equal rights progress made in Washington state. We do not believe that this step backward would be in the best interest for the future of our state."

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Meanwhile, Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli seek to take Virginia socially back to the 1950's or even the 19th century. Is this really going to attract progressive and dynamic business? I think not. To help defeat this backward looking mindset was one of the reasons I helped found HRBOR, Virginia's only gay and gay friendly chamber of commerce and NGLCC affiliate.

Italy Grapples with Catholic Priest Sex Abuse

Up until now, the vast majority of reporting on the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clergy has been centered in English speaking nations like the USA, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Now the sex abuse bomb has landed in Italy right in the Vatican's own back yard. For far too long the Church has welded too much power and been given far too much deference by both the Italian government and the general population. Hopefully, (1) more victims will come forth and (2) the coverage of sex abuse claims will continue and will in the process convince Italians that the Church is a corrupt institution that needs to be pushed out of its position of influence. God forbid - Italians might demand the much needed house cleaning of the hierarchy. The Church hierarchy has ruined so many lives and it is beyond time that the bishops and cardinals - and yes Popes - be held accountable. The Washington Post has a story on this developing situation in Italy. Here are some highlights:

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VERONA, Italy -- It happened night after night, the deaf man said, sometimes in the priest's bedroom, sometimes in the bathroom, even in the confessional. When he was a young boy at a Catholic-run institute for the deaf, Alessandro Vantini said, priests sodomized him so relentlessly he came to feel "as if I were dead." This year, he and dozens of other former students did something highly unusual for Italy: They went public with claims they were forced to perform sex acts with priests.

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For decades, a culture of silence has surrounded priest abuse in Italy, where surveys show the church is considered one of the country's most respected institutions. Now, in the Vatican's backyard, a movement to air and root out abusive priests is slowly and fitfully taking hold.

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The numbers in Italy are still a mere trickle compared to the hundreds of cases in the court systems of the United States and Ireland. And according to the AP tally, the Italian church has so far had to pay only a few hundred thousand euros (dollars) in civil damages to the victims, compared to $2.6 billion in abuse-related costs for the American diocese or euro1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) due to victims in Ireland. However, the numbers still stand out in a country where reports of clerical sex abuse were virtually unknown a decade ago.

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The implications of priest abuse loom large in Italy: with its 50,850 priests in a nation of 60 million, Italy counts more priests than all of South America or Africa. . . . The Italian cases follow much the same pattern as the U.S. and Irish scandals: Italian prelates often preyed on poor, physically or mentally disabled, or drug-addicted youths entrusted to their care. The deaf students' speech impairments, for example, made the priests' admonition "never to tell" all the more easy to enforce.

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Breaking the conspiracy of silence, 67 former students from Verona's Antonio Provolo institute for the deaf signed a statement alleging that sexual abuse, pedophilia and corporal punishment occurred at the school from the 1950s to the 1980s at the hands of priests and brothers of the Congregation for the Company of Mary.

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In his declaration, Bisoli also accused Verona's late bishop, Monsignor Giuseppe Carraro - who is being considered for beatification - of molesting him on five separate occasions while he was a student at Provolo, which he attended from age 9 to 15. A diocesan probe cleared Carraro of sex abuse. But the investigation interviewed none of the alleged victims, limiting testimony to surviving members of the Congregation, other school personnel and their affiliates, and documentation from the Congregation and Verona diocese. The late bishop's beatification process was suspended pending the investigation, but is now going ahead to the Vatican's saint-making office.

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Advocates, however, says the diocese's investigation was fatally flawed because it didn't interview the alleged victims and only people with links to the school who may have something to hide. "If they had wanted to shed full light on it, they wouldn't have only heard from priests and lay brothers, but from the deaf as well," said Marco Lodi Rizzini, a spokesman for the victims.

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In 2002, when the abuse scandal was erupting in the United States, the No. 2 official in the Italian Bishops' Conference, Monsignor Giuseppe Betori, was quoted as saying clerical sex abuse was so limited in Italy that the conference leadership hadn't even discussed the matter.

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It seems to be the same thing seen time and time again in the USA and Ireland: the abusers are protected by their superiors and the victims are ignored as if they are worth nothing. The same old " a few bad apples" bullshit excuse that was given out in the Boston Archdiocese as all Hell broke loose in 2002. I hope that Italian citizens and the government do not accept these lies that are the Church's standard mantra. There is no sorrow on the part of the hierarchy except that they've been caught yet again.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

The Racial Demonization of the President

I realize I have written before about the racism that lies barely beneath the surface at all times within today's Republican Party and which is increasingly boiling over into open view. I believe that it is relevant for several reasons: (1) it shows how far this nation has to go in terms of racial peace, (2) it shows the venomous hate that is now so much of a prominent part of the mindset of a once great national political party, and (3) the effort to make one "other" and "scary" is remarkably similar to what the Christianists and their allies do to LGBT citizens. Clearly, the racial slurs and dehumanizing tactics of the birthers and teabaggers must be countered and those in the GOP leadership who allow such disgusting conduct to persist need to be called out and castigated as well. Joan Walsh at Salon has a good column today that looks at this vile phenomenon and the backwater areas of the country where it thrives the most:

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When South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson screamed "You lie!" at President Obama Wednesday night, he dragged the paranoia and anti-Obama contempt that marked so many August "town hells" into the chambers of Congress. . . . Of course Obama never had the support of whites like Joe Wilson, a solid son of the South who served as an aide to segregationist Strom Thurmond and who publicly doubted and derided Thurmond's biracial daughter, Essie Mae, when she went public about her dad's identity. Obama lost South Carolina to John McCain handily, just as he lost most of the rest of the region.

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I started thinking opponents were blackening Obama back in July, after the racial drama of the Sotomayor hearings, when poor oppressed Caucasians like Sens. Jeff Sessions, Tom Coburn and Lindsey Graham made it sound like it was open season on white guys.

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Birthers and Deathers (who tended to be the same people) were focused on marginalizing Obama as scary, "the other." Race was central to their fears, from the Birthers' obsession with Obama's literal origins as the product of miscegenation; to the Deathers and the Town Hellers' insistence that healthcare reform was, in Glenn Beck's idiotic formulation, Obama's idea of "reparations" for slavery. The cries of "socialism" were just another way to mark him as "other," scary and foreign. Watching scenes of shrieking, sobbing people pleading to "take our country back," it was hard not to ask, From who? The president who got a larger share of the vote than Ronald Reagan in 1980 or George Bush in 2000? What exactly is it that makes this particular commander in chief an interloper?

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Finally, when Republicans began objecting to Obama's speaking to schoolkids last week, you couldn't ignore the racism: Listening to some parents' expressing actual fear of having Obama beamed into their kids' classrooms, it was hard to imagine such hysteria being inspired by a white president. It would never happen.

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And while I think race, and racism, have played a role in the angry yelling of the Birthers and Deathers, and in the despicable contempt Wilson showed the president in Congress last week, I think most of the president's troubles with white voters have to do with political doubt his enemies have sown about his programs -- after Obama, in my opinion, was too slow to push his own clear proposals, especially for healthcare.

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Obama may never get a larger share of the white vote than he got last November (which was good enough, after all, for a comfortable win). But if he compromises with the Republicans who are out to get him, he risks losing the support of the multiracial base that put him in the White House. Sticking to his (metaphorical) guns is both good policy, and good politics.

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I do agree with Walsh that Obama needs to push forward much more forcefully on healthcare and other "change" agenda items on which he campaigned. In the meanwhile, blacks, gays, Jews, Hispanics, and other cultural and/or religious minorities need to realize that ALL of us are seen as enemies by the birther and teabagging set. Therefore we need to support policies that help us all rather than allow the far right and false Christians to divide us.

Straight Spouses - the Other Victims of "Ex-gay" Lies - Advocate for Gay Marriage

On a number of occasions I have commented upon the fact that besides victimizing gays, the professional Christian set and "ex-gays for pay" also victimize straight spouses. These straight individuals might well have avoided marrying gays in the first place but for the lies and false information these "Christians" and "ex-gays" disseminate, thereby causing many gays to marry in the hope that they will be able to change. When one reviews the websites of the ex-gay "ministries," nowhere is mention ever made to straight spouses who may be harmed by marriages that are ultimately doomed to fail. Instead, all one sees is the opposite sex spouse and/or children offered up as "poof" that the gay spouse is "cured." Finally, some straight spouses who have been married to gays are stepping forth and advocating for same sex marriage and increased acceptance of gays in general so that others do not share their fate of a failed marriage. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com:

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Wah Cheong, a lifelong Republican and the soon-to-be divorced father of two teenage boys, sometimes surprises his co-workers and neighbors in a relatively conservative community outside San Francisco when he says he supports same-sex marriage. “Here is my situation,” the 47-year-old chemical engineer tells them when the hot-button topic comes up. “If gays and lesbians were more accepted, I wouldn’t have married a closeted lesbian."

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Of all the constituency groups that advocate allowing gay couples to wed, none is perhaps more counterintuitive than the heterosexual spouses of gay men and lesbians. Yet as the issue plays out in the nation’s courtrooms and statehouses, some of the wives and husbands who learned that their partner was attracted to other women or men are making their voices known in the often-polarized debate.

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“We are the unacknowledged victims of the victims of homophobia,” said Amity Pierce Buxton, the founder of the Straight Spouse Network, a New Jersey-based support and advocacy group with 52 U.S. chapters. “When gays and lesbians feel they have to get married to be accepted and to have kids, that hurts not only gays and lesbians, but straight spouses and kids.”

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To be sure, not all mates who discover they are in what has become known as “mixed-orientation marriages” are so sanguine. Cheong, who was married for more than 17 years when his wife told him she thought she was a lesbian, said he knows other straight spouses who voted for California’s same-sex marriage ban “out of spite for their ex’s, nothing else.” Regardless of where they are on the acceptance scale, each spouse can pinpoint devastating moments of discovery or disclosure that rendered their marital relationships unrecognizable, if not shattered.

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Spires’ ex-wife, Sue Spires, says she regrets having hurt Randy but does not completely understand why, 13 years later, he feels a need to talk about the end of their marriage, which produced two sons. But she agrees with him that if same-sex relationships had been more accepted when they were young, she would have had a relationship with a woman.

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Sadly, the damage done to both gay spouses and straight spouses - not to mention their children - means nothing to the professional Christians who seek money and/or political agendas through the dissemination of the ex-gay myth. Similarly, this damage apparently means nothing to ex-gays for pay either who ultimately care only about themselves and are in my view little better than prostitutes. It is a very sick phenomenon that victimizes both gays and the straights they marry.

Tuesday Male Beauty

The Rights of Gay Employees - Of Course In Virginia We Have None

The New York Times has an editorial that looks at the sad state of employment law protections for LGBT citizens. Here in Virginia where LGBT employees have no non-discrimination protections whatsoever, some would argue that dogs and cats have more protections against mistreatment. The irony is that when all other flimsy excuses are stripped away, anti-gay discrimination is based solely upon religious based prejudice and bigotry, thus making a farce out of the freedom of religion that allegedly exists in the USA - it exist only so long as one is not gay, then all bets and protections are off and religious based bigotry is given free rein. Having just been in New York where state law protections exist, it is all the more depressing to be back in Virginia. Here are some editorial highlights:

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It is remarkable how little progress gay people have made in securing the basic protection against discrimination on the job. In 29 states, it is still legal to fire workers for being gay. But momentum is building in Congress for the first federal law banning such discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

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Federal law has lagged behind the reality of American life. There are now openly gay members of Congress from between-the-coasts states like Colorado and Wisconsin. And according to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights advocacy group, 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies have policies protecting gay employees from discrimination.
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Bipartisan bills have been introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, modeled on existing civil rights laws that cover race, religion and sex. Unlike some past bills, these include gender identity, protecting transgender people from discrimination. The bills were written to meet some of the concerns of opponents. The law would not apply to religious organizations, or to businesses with fewer than 15 employees. It would not allow for quotas or “disparate impact” lawsuits, which generally use statistical disparities to prove discrimination.

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People who believe in workplace fairness should lobby senators to get on board. It is unacceptable that in a nation committed to equality people can still be fired in more than half the states for being gay. Congressional leaders should make passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act a top priority.