Tag Archives: gay

May 9, 2011 · 8:45 pm

LGBT “Welcome” Ad Rejected by Sojourners, Nation’s Premier Progressive Christian Org

This is truly sad…

This was an ad welcoming Gays and Lesbians to Church….

I was just beginning to think Sojourners was a different kind of Christian than the Crazy Fundamentalists…

But I guess they are either not being completely honest in their mission or are just scared…

Believe Out Loud is more than four years in the making. Virtually every mainline Protestant LGBT denominational advocacy group is a partner, making it a credible place for church leaders to turn for help on this issue. We have asked ourselves why Sojourners, a preeminent voice for justice in the religious community, rejected our ad buy. Does the organization not really believe in welcome for “everyone” in our churches or do they believe everyone is welcome, but they are afraid to “believe out loud” for fear of alienating some constituents? On one level, it doesn’t really matter. Their dilemma, apparently, is a ringing testimony for both the urgency and the necessity of this campaign since the issues they confronted are similar to those that face congregational leaders in addressing this concern within their settings. In recent years, American society has made significant strides forward towards full equality for LGBT persons. Tragically, the church has lagged well behind. Clearly, there is more work to be done.

More:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/progressive-christian-gro_n_859695.html

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May 2, 2011 · 8:02 pm

JCrew at Center of Gay Politics Again With Gay Couple ‘Happy Together’ in May Catalog – ABC News

Another reason for me to love J Crew….

I already have a closet full of their clothes…

This just makes me want to buy more to show my support!

Or at least use that as an excuse…

In any event, Thanks, J Crew!

J. Crew surprised consumers again with a May 2011 catalog that features its employees as models, including a gay designer with his boyfriend, who are described as “Happy Together.”

The preppie clothing giant was quiet on its presentation of the same-sex couple — “Our designer Somsack and his boyfriend, Micah” — but gay advocates applaud what they say is a strong message.

“Nothing is unintentional in this kind of marketing,” said Cathy Renna of Renna Communications, which serves the LGBT community. “Bravo to J. Crew.”

“It’s a giant step forward,” she said. “As an activist, it’s great to see a diversity of images and to see gay families represented in more regular media.”

via JCrew at Center of Gay Politics Again With Gay Couple ‘Happy Together’ in May Catalog – ABC News.

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May 2, 2011 · 7:59 pm

“Dorian Gray” to Appear as Wilde Actually Wrote It

Fascinating article from Salon.com about Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and the restored edition about to come out…

Altogether, the revised 1891 manuscript that eventually appeared in book form encompassed a whole series of changes and omissions designed to alter and conventionalize the “moral,” such as it is, by heightening the beautiful Dorian’s monstrosity and thus rendering him a far less sympathetic character than he had appeared to be in the original typescript. Looking at the typescript, then, we find more comprehensible Wilde’s oft-quoted statement on the book’s autobiographical elements: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps.”

Frankel has done much to place Wilde and his novel within the context of their time — “a heated atmosphere of hysteria and paranoia” about sexual “deviation.” The 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act was extended by Henry Labouchère, a radical member of Parliament, to include the criminalization of acts of “gross indecency” between men. (The Labouchère amendment was not repealed until 1956.) The vagueness of the amendment’s language — just what acts did “gross indecency” encompass, anyway? — caused fear amounting to paranoia among the homosexual community; as Frankel writes, “The conditions had been created for a series of homosexual scandals that would rock London and increase the level of homophobia in British society.”

The so-called Cleveland Street Affair, which broke only months before “Dorian Gray’s” first appearance, was the most spectacular of these, involving the infiltration and arrest of a ring of “rent boys” who worked by day as telegraph messengers and by night as prostitutes out of a brothel in Cleveland Street. A number of aristocrats and prominent military men were implicated; Lord Arthur Somerset, the Prince of Wales’ equerry, fled the country; a shadow was even cast on the name of the prince’s elder son, though that suspicion was subsequently proved groundless. “In the wake of the Cleveland Street Scandal,” Frankel explains, “Wilde’s emphasis on Dorian Gray’s youthfulness, or susceptibility to the ‘corruption’ of an older aristocratic man (Lord Henry), is one of the features of the novel that most outraged reviewers.”

via “Dorian Gray” as Wilde actually wrote it – Fiction – Salon.com.

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May 1, 2011 · 11:02 am

Royal Wedding Proves Worldwide Gay Population Vastly Under-Reported

From Bill Maher via Twitter:

“Its being reported that a third of the world watched the royal wedding – and yet they claim gays are only 3 pct of population?”

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April 26, 2011 · 9:42 pm

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?

Hat Tip to Towleroad.com…and to Budweiser!

Debate amongst yourselves….

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April 25, 2011 · 11:16 am

The FDNY/ New York Firemen Calendar is Back!

I have several friends-male and female- who lived for this calendar…

It was discontinued a few years ago due to some, uh, controversy…

It is now being revived-mainly because it raised a ton of cash for the FDNY….

I’ll be buying some copies of this for some of my friends for Christmas again this year.

They’ve been making do with substitute Firemen Calendars until now….

But there is only one FDNY Fireman’s Calendar and, according to them,  it’s unbeatable.

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April 24, 2011 · 11:14 pm

Happy Birthday, Barbra Streisand and Shirley MacLaine

Two icons were born today:  Barbra Streisand is 69 and Virginia’s own Shirley MacLaine is 77….

Of course, I have to put up a couple of clips:

A little prime Streisand:

And a little MacLaine:

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April 24, 2011 · 10:51 pm

The Problem With Gay Men Today : Salon.com Talks to Larry Kramer

Very interesting interview with Larry Kramer about the differences between the generations of Gay Men….

Hard as it is to believe, this generation really grew up in a different, safer, more accepting  time …

Those of us who are older had a very different experience- and they have no idea what it was like during the AIDS Crisis or growing up when it was still, as Lord Alfred Douglas said, “The love that dare not speak its name”.

And Gay Men, like most Americans, don’t really care about or want to know their history….

Larry Kramer’s ground breaking play from the outbreak of the AIDS crisis opens on Broadway this week….

From Salon.com interview with Thomas Rogers:

Rogers:  I saw a preview of the play last night with a friend. I think many of the ideas in the play will seem exotic and a little dated to a lot of young gay men.

Kramer:  Like what?

Rogers:  Like the idea of promiscuity as a political statement and that it would be treasonous or controversial for gay men to tell other gay men not to have sex, or to have sex with a condom. What do you think young people should take away from the play?

Kramer:  It’s our history. We’re gay. This was part of our history. This was the most horrible thing the gay population ever lived through. And yet it also represented — later on, with ACT UP, and the getting of AIDS drugs — the most spectacular achievement the gay population ever had. We gays did that.

I don’t know why so many gay men don’t want to know their history. I don’t know why they turned their back on the older generation as if they don’t want to have anything to do with them. I would like us to get beyond that.

Rogers:  But do you really think that lack of interest in history is particular to this generation?

Kramer:  You tell me.

Rogers:  Well, I’m 27, and I know that my formative images of gay life had nothing to do with AIDS. Ellen came out of the closet when I was in junior high and “Will & Grace” made gayness seem like a consumer identity more than anything else. Gayness wasn’t really linked with sickness is my mind, and so those early AIDS battles, I think, seem very alien to a lot of young people’s experiences.

Kramer:  I don’t know. I could understand what you’re saying. Sometimes when I go to schools, kids say that they’re taught to be non-confrontational or non-participatory now, almost like it’s not cool to have opinions and express them, which is sad. I hope we’re coming out of all that.

MORE:   The problem with gay men today – Interviews – Salon.com.

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April 15, 2011 · 11:24 pm

If You’re Looking For A Little Diversity On Television, Try HGTV: NPR

Very interesting story that I heard on NPR on Wednesday.

You can click through the link below to another link to hear the whole story…

Neda Ulaby reports on Wednesday’s Morning Edition that there’s a surprising channel where you can see Latino, Asian, or African-American people, as well as gays and lesbians, in significantly larger numbers than in much of the rest of broadcast and cable television.

That channel is HGTV — from Home And Garden Television — which features people of color as hosts and homeowners, as well as designers and retailers. Neda considers an episode of House Hunters, for instance, that featured a black couple where one was a tech consultant and one was a government nuclear inspector. The president of HGTV makes clear that the diversity of participants — not only the homeowners, but the design professionals and other consultants — is entirely intentional, and has resulted in an overall increase in its audience and an even bigger increase in its minority audiences.

via If You’re Looking For A Little Diversity On Television, Try HGTV : Monkey See : NPR.

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April 9, 2011 · 6:37 pm

Is It Possible To Become A Gay Icon?

Cute article from Joel Stein in Time Magazine in light of Elizabeth Taylor’s passing…

Here is a brief excerpt and a link to the full article at the bottom:

Irish wakes are good, sitting Shivah is O.K., jazz funerals are great, and ayatullah processions have their moments, but the people you really want to show up when you die are the gays. The Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood, is still mourning Elizabeth Taylor, who hung out there with her dog Daisy, drinking watermelon-and-apple martinis. Taylor was a gay-male icon: beautiful and talented with a messy personal life, addictions to drugs or alcohol, and about 14 marriages. I don’t know the details because I’m straight.

In fact, gay icons totally confuse me. I get that Maria Callas and Judy Garland are hot, talented women martyred by their art. But Marilyn Monroe was fabulous and tragic, and gays don’t care about her except as a Halloween costume. And I’ve yet to hear of one drag queen who puns off of Vincent van Gogh. Meanwhile, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and Cher seem to have fine lives. Is inner strength the key? Or vulnerability? And how can you possibly iconicize all four Golden Girls? They’re so different.

But all of them have a much better deal than having straight-dude fans. The moment you stop playing your sport, they ignore you and your sad suburban autograph signings. But if you’re a gay icon and get addicted to meth, stop working and abuse your assistant, your fans just love you more for it. I needed to figure out how to become a gay icon. Even if it required drinking watermelon-and-apple martinis.

via Is It Possible To Become A Gay Icon? – TIME.

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