Thursday Male Beauty

DADT's Continuing Damage to Troop Safety

While anti-gay lunatics like Elaine Donnelly whine and carry on that allowing gays to serve openly in the U.S. military will harm military readiness and damage troop safety and morale. Thus, they claim DADT protects our troops. The sad truth, of course, is that DADT does just the opposite of what the wingnuts allege and that repeatedly DADT has meant the loss of much needed specialists, especially Arabic speaking linguists. Servicemembers United has a new ad that brings this point home through an interview with an active duty Marine discussing the dire need for Arabic linguists and the losses he has experienced because his unit was in need of one. The video from the ad cane be found here. Additional ads can be found here.

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DADT is - no matter how one tries to dress it up - nothing more than religious based discrimination written into the federal law. The federal DOMA is more of the same - in my opinion - unconstitutional infusion of religious belief into the nation's laws.

Priestly Celibacy and Afghanistan's "Dancing Boys"

Having been raised Roman Catholic I grew up well versed in the Church's obsession with all things sexual and the sometimes less than subtle message that women were temptresses looking to corrupt men and/or dirty. After all, Eve was and is depicted as responsible for mankind's fall in the Garden of Eden. Add in the celibacy requirement for priests who are banned from marrying women and the typical older parish priest's lack of access to women who were relegated to being house keepers at the rectory and and members of the altar guild who washed altar clothes, etc, and it makes for a psychologically bizarre reality. In the wake of the Church's worldwide sex abuse scandal where the majority of victims have been boys and youths, the Church hierarchy and Catholics with an Opus Dei mindset have sought to blame the sex abuse scandal on gays within the priesthood. Indeed, these folks have sought to blame the church wide problem on modernity, Vatican II's liberalization of the Church - anything that places the blame on something other than the Church's own insane rules and sexual hang ups toward women in particular.

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A look at Afghanistan and the wide spread societal phenomenon of "dancing boys" and "boy players" would seem to demonstrate that crazy religious taboos and harsh demeaning treatment of women can indeed set the stage for widespread homosexual conduct even among those who view themselves as heterosexual. A story in the San Francisco Chronicle documents this long standing societal practice in Afghanistan which in some ways mirrors the Church hierarchy's approach of turning a blind eye toward sexual abuse by priests. Here are some highlights:
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Western forces fighting in southern Afghanistan had a problem. Too often, soldiers on patrol passed an older man walking hand-in-hand with a pretty young boy.
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For centuries, Afghan men have taken boys, roughly 9 to 15 years old, as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means "boy player." The men like to boast about it. "Having a boy has become a custom for us," Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. "Whoever wants to show off should have a boy."
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In Kandahar, population about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular, often weekly, pastime. Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home. A recent State Department report called "dancing boys" a "widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape."
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Sociologists and anthropologists say the problem results from perverse interpretation of Islamic law. Women are simply unapproachable. Afghan men cannot talk to an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage. Before then, they can't even look at a woman, except perhaps her feet. Otherwise she is covered, head to ankle. "How can you fall in love if you can't see her face," 29-year-old Mohammed Daud told reporters. "We can see the boys, so we can tell which are beautiful."
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Even after marriage, many men keep their boys, suggesting a loveless life at home. A favored Afghan expression goes: "Women are for children, boys are for pleasure." Fundamentalist imams, exaggerating a biblical passage on menstruation, teach that women are "unclean" and therefore distasteful.
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That helps explain why women are hidden away - and stoned to death if they are perceived to have misbehaved. Islamic law also forbids homosexuality. But the pedophiles explain that away. It's not homosexuality, they aver, because they aren't in love with their boys.
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As one boy, in tow of a man he called "my lord," told the Reuters reporter: "Once I grow up, I will be an owner, and I will have my own boys."

More Wedneday Male Beauty

Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham

Hurricane Earl - Tedious Waiting and Wondering

I'm the type that likes to know what's going to happen, prepare for it, and then get it over with. Unfortunately, Hurricane Earl is not cooperating and the waiting and wondering continues to drive me crazy. Living on a tidal creek and across the street from Hampton Roads harbor in a home that has flooded before, the boyfriend and I have taken the storm warnings seriously and have completed the outside precautions in case the storm hits harder than forecast: the good car is in a parking garage in downtown Hampton (on the second floor) and all of the patio and deck furniture and the boyfriend's many potted plants have been moved into the shed or the garage. *

Hopefully, by morning we will have a better read on possible storm surge levels and we can decide whether to put the newly built flood doors in place and move furnishings to to the second floor. Unlike during the 2009 "nor-Ida" storm, we now have a more or less water proof first floor so that any clean up should be far, far easier. I will keep everyone posted on events as they unfold.

Will Conservatives Co-Opt Gay Rights Issues? One Democrat Says Maybe

It's certainly no secret to readers that I am far past being just a little disgusted with Barack Obama's betrayal of LGBT Americans. He courted our votes and more particularly our money during his presidential campaign and has delivered nothing in return. The feckless Congressional Democrats by and large have been little better. One would almost think that a deliberate effort is being made to alienate LGBT voters. Some even say leaving an opportunity for moderate Republicans - rare breed that they are - to court LGBT voters. Do the Democrats and Obama in particular really want to allow themselves to be on the wrong side of history given the support for LBT equality among younger voters? Sam Stein has a post at Huffington Post that looks at what some are viewing as Barack Obama's error in allowing Republicans an opening to potentially Co-opt LGBT issues or, at least, use Obama's failures against embattled Democrats. Here are some highlights:
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The notion that the gay rights community would abandon the Obama White House over its unwillingness to fully embrace their legislative priorities may seem absurd to the casual political observer. But the recent embrace of same-sex marriage by prominent conservatives, most notably former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, has some Democratic operatives concerned.
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On Monday, former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt argued that there was a "strong conservative case to be made in favor of gay marriage" and that more and more Republicans are dropping their opposition to the cause. Shortly thereafter, a prominent Democratic consultant got in touch with the Huffington Post to make the case that the Obama administration risks losing the gay rights community (or at least depressing their votes) with its tepid embrace of their priorities.
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I think they have been put in a tough place by these conservatives and they should be," the consultant said. "There are a whole group of people who are to the left of them [the Obama administration] on gay rights. And they are Republicans. It should make them feel uncomfortable."
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Though hardly a barometer for the Republican Party's collective psyche, John McCain's daughter, Meghan, made overtures along these lines on Tuesday night. "We get the bad rap as Republicans being against gay marriage," she told Fox News. "[Obama] isn't doing anything for the gay community."
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She's right - Obama isn't doing anything for the majority of the LGBT community. Policy changes that impact a small number of LGBT federal employees are not the change that Obama promised. Nor do these tiny mincing steps do anything for those who still lack basic employment non-discrimination protections. With Margaret Hoover, Laura Bush, Meghan McCain and her mother, Ted Olson, and for God sakes even Dick Cheney more supportive on the issue of gay marriage than Obama, stranger things have happened than a possible future GOP move to the left of the Democrats on LGBT issues. Yes, it's true that the Christianists within the GOP will have a conniption fit if the GOP begins to jettison its anti-gay plank. On the other hand, time and demographics are on the side of proponents of LGBT equality. As crazy as many in the GOP are at present, anyone with an eye to the future ought to realize Obama has made the Democrats vulnerable on the issue.

Wednesday Male Beauty

Mexico City Opens Office to Woo LGBT Honeymooners

A while back I noted how Mexico City, Mexico planned to woo same sex honeymooners following the legalization of gay marriage in the Mexican capital. Now, the city has formally opened the new gay tourism office. CNN has coverage of this step in a country which despite severe crime problems and poverty is out stripping the United States in terms of marriage equality. I find it nothing short of humiliating that the USA is increasingly shown to be a fraud when it comes to equality and freedom of religion for all of its citizens. Here in Virginia and under federal laws such as DOMA and DADT the religious dogma of Christianists has been made the defacto state and national religion. Here are highlights from CNN:
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Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- As more governments approve same-sex marriage laws, officials here are hoping to attract a growing part of the tourism market: gay honeymoons.
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The first couple to wed under Argentina's recent law allowing same-sex marriages nationwide arrives in Mexico this week on an all-expenses-paid trip -- part of a new push by the government in Mexico City, Mexico to woo gay travelers. "We hope that many same-sex couples who get married around the world spend their honeymoons here," says Alejandro Rojas, the city's tourism secretary.
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In July, the city opened an office aimed at catering to gay tourists that officials describe as the first of its kind in Latin America. "We are a very tolerant, liberal, avant-garde city," Rojas says. Officials inaugurated the new office by cutting a rainbow-colored ribbon. Rojas said the office's goal is to make Mexico City the No. 1 gay-friendly destination in Latin America.
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For years, it was rare to see gay rights issues gaining traction in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Not anymore, according to Javier Corrales, a professor of political science at Amherst College in Massachusetts. "Latin America currently has some of the most gay-friendly cities in the developing world," says Corrales, who ranks cities' gay-friendliness in a new book he co-edited, "The Politics of Sexuality in Latin America."
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In addition to training local hotels and restaurants on how to be sensitive to gay clientele, officials say they hope to create maps of the city highlighting attractions for gay tourists and possibly host an international gay tourism conference. Hotels, restaurants and businesses in Mexico City have responded positively to the program so far, Rojas said.
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Gay tourists represent 15 percent of the world's tourism market, and they spend more money than heterosexual tourists when they travel, he says. Recognizing the commercial value of gay tourism is a positive step, Navarro says, but it also shows that more social change is needed. "I hope that there comes a day in the future when they don't have to have an office for gay tourists, just like there isn't an office for Asian tourists," Navarro says.
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Meanwhile, southeastern Virginia continues to keep its head stuck in the sand and kisses the ass of folks like Pat Robertson and his fellow theocrats. Ditto for the religious extremists who currently occupy the Virginia governor's mansion and office of attorney general.

Brian Brown - Still Sucking on the Anti-Gay Teet

Click to enlarge image.

Having followed the professional Christian set for well over a decade, one thing becomes readily discernible - many of its talking heads bounce from one homophobic organization to another, never holding a real job. Instead, they move from state based anti-gay groups to more national level organizations and the lies that they disseminate never change no matter what legitimate medical and mental health experts say about sexual orientation. Some of these professional gay haters are Peter LaBarbera, Robert Knight, Tony Perkins - and NOM's Brian Brown. Jeremy Hooper has a piece at Good As You that documents that Brown has been sucking on the anti-gay money teet for over five years. In fact, five years ago Brown was heading up the Family Institute of Connecticut and peddling Truth Won Out's bogus reparative therapy program - a therapy condemned by the APA. Here are some highlights from Jeremy's comments:
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Nowadays, National Organization For Marriage president Brian Brown is way too politically savvy to encourage gays into scientifically discredited "ex-gay" change. But that wasn't always the case. Back when Brian was heading up the Family Institute of Connecticut and the national interest was much more lacking, a less public version of Brian was all about helping parents "prevent your child from embracing this destructive way of life"
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What do we hear from NOM all the time? False victimization. Charges that Brian and crew will be unfairly labeled "bigots." An attempt to flip the script to make the anti-LGBT crowd seem like the sympathetic figures. But here we have it, almost five years ago to the date: Brian ignoring a preponderance of credible science to say that gays can and should pray away the gay.
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Brown, like his compatriots of the far right Christianist set, is a con artist and charlatan. Sadly, the main stream media continues to lack the balls - and integrity - to expose these people for frauds and demagogues.

Younger Voters Apathetic - Voted for Change and Got Nothing

I bookmarked this article a day ago, but the topic is still relevant: younger voters who surged out to vote for Barack Obama and promises of systemic change are apathetic and inclined to stay home this coming November. Words do have meaning and broken campaign promises can have dramatic consequences - something the Democrats may discover in spades two months from now. Yes, the GOP has been the "Party of No" and has tried to obstruct any and all change. But the bottom line is that Obama and the Congressional Democrats have been spineless wimps who have time and time again failed to use their majorities to enact the legislation and programs promised. The result is that if Democrats are decimated in November, they need look no further than in the mirror to see the cause of their misfortunes. Standing at the head of the line for blame will be Obama who has refused again and again to be a LEADER. Now the country is poised to suffer from that failure of leadership and refusal of Congressional Democrats to deliver on promises. Here are highlights from the Seattle Times:
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Getting young voters back to the polls this year is critical for Democrats' hopes of hanging on to majorities in Congress. But with the economy struggling, U.S. troops still in Afghanistan and Iraq, domestic issues stalled amid partisan wrangling, and no presidential race at the top of the ballot, that won't be easy.
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The 2008 election also marked the first time since 1992 that a majority of voting-age Americans under 30 turned out, according to the nonpartisan Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).
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Getting those young voters back to the polls this year is critical for Democrats' hopes of hanging on to majorities in Congress, particularly in the Senate. . things haven't really improved much," said David Ruiz, 22, a Capitol Hill resident and University of Washington student.
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According to a CNN poll in July, only 27 percent of Democrats were extremely or very enthusiastic about voting this year, compared with 42 percent of Republicans.
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"We felt it was our opportunity as young people to change the face of American politics. I don't sense that young voters feel they have that same connection or influence this year." Anderstone, of Tacoma, who worked on the successful primary-election campaign of Democrat Laurie Jinkins in the 27th Legislative District, said the bitterness he's heard on the campaign trail isn't directed at the president in particular, but at politics in general.
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Disenchantment with Obama is helping recruit young Republican voters, said Lisa Shin, 30, executive director of the King County Republican Party. "Kids are graduating from college and there are no jobs out there for them. So it has started to affect them personally."
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The Obama agenda? You mean there is one? One would never know from his failed leadership and double speak be one LGBT, Hispanic, some other minority. It's all talk and little or no delivery.