| christian grantham | |||
| Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD. | |||
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latest posts
November 30, 2004
This is exactly how Fuqua screwed up the movie Gangsta.
Citing a difference in management philosophy, the Human Rights Campaign’s boards and its president, Cheryl Jacques, announced that she will resign from her position."Cheryl hit the road almost as soon as she arrived and has been an effective advocate for our community," said HRC Foundation Board Co-Chair Lawrie Demorest.
Jacques led HRC through the successful defeat earlier this year of the Federal Marriage Amendment in the House and Senate, and through a period of significant growth in fundraising and membership, including a record $30 million budget for 2004, and a membership that now exceeds 600,000.
[CHERYL JACQUES TO LEAVE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN - HRC - 11-30-04]
filed under: Exclusives
November 30, 2004
In an emotional meeting today with the staff of the nation's largest gay and lesbian civil rights organization, Human Rights Campaign board members Vic Basile and Mike Berman shared the news that Cheryl Jacques has been terminated.
Angered that news of the termination had leaked out through this blog, Berman reiterated the decision was made in a highly confidential executive session of the board and that no one at HRC was to speak to anyone regarding staff matters, especially the media.
"This had absolutely nothing to do with the elections," Berman added. "There is nothing HRC could have done to change the elections."
Berman apologized to the staff for having very little to tell them leading into this weekend's board meeting in Las Vegas other than confirming Jacques' immediate termination. When asked by a staffer what they could do to help, Berman urged the staff to remain focused on their work.
"We can't say anything to anyone until Cheryl is comfortable. Unfortunately we're stuck with that," Berman told the staff. There were few answers given to the staff other than encouragement to move forward.
"We've got to figure out what we're for and not spend so much time on the defense," Berman said of the challenges ahead. "We are not going to dwell on the past. We are going to focus our energy on moving forward."
HRC told several media outlets inquiring about this story that a statement would be issued this afternoon. No statement was issued.
filed under: Exclusives
November 30, 2004
Cheryl Jacques, the Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, has been fired. According to sources that wish to remain anonymous, HRC's Board of Directors voted to replace Jacques with Hilary Rosen as interim executive director. The vote took place in an emergency conference call Monday night.
Rosen is the partner of HRC's former executive director, Elizabeth Birch, who left HRC after eight years. Rosen also left her position with the Recording Industry Association of America earlier this year to focus on her children with Birch. Rosen recently worked as a political commentator and media consultant.
HRC's board will meet this weekend in Las Vegas, and the HRC staff will be told of the decision today. The board hoped an early vote would allow the Las Vegas meeting to not be dominated by discussions on the decision.
Sources say some board members expressed deep misgivings with how HRC presented itself during the 2004 elections. HRC Board member Bruce Bastian was particularly upset with HRC spending money on bumper stickers, t-shirts, billboards and tattoos that read "George Bush, You're Fired!"
Developing...
filed under: Exclusives
November 30, 2004
I'm glad to see the Solomon Amendment challenged. For nearly 10 years, the federal government has granted the U.S. military an exclusive exception to campus nondiscrimination policies. If the U.S. military's ability to recruit is significantly affected by following the rules of hundreds of campus policies, it is yet another reason to consider whether Don't Ask, Don't Tell is truly in the best interest of our national security.
A federal appeals court yesterday prohibited the government from withholding funds from colleges and universities that refuse to cooperate with military recruiters because of the Pentagon's discrimination against gays in the armed forces.In a 2 to 1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia blocked the government from enforcing a law known as the Solomon Amendment, which punishes universities that refuse to allow military recruiters on campus. The law was originally passed by Congress in 1996 but was not actively enforced before the beginning of President Bush's administration.
[U.S. Loses Ruling Over College Bans on Military Recruiters - Washington Post - 11-30-04]
filed under: For The Record
November 29, 2004
Evangelical Christian and University of North Florida Student Body President Jerry Watterson doesn't want campus money funding the campus gay group. The way he sees it, he's "just taking a stand against homosexuality." But when it comes to funding the Jewish Student Union and the Muslim Student Association to promote alternative religious lifestyle choices, Watterson's concern for people's hell-bound souls magically disappears.
America, take comfort. It's not bigotry or discrimination when you are "just taking a stand against homosexuality."
Last summer, the student body president, Jerry Watterson, refused to sign a bill giving Pride $1,000 to stage a drag show that doubled as a fundraiser for breast cancer research. An evangelical Christian, Watterson believes the Bible condemns cross-dressing and that approving funding for the event would have violated his religious beliefs.The bill became law without Watterson's signature and didn't attract attention until Oct. 28, when the Florida Times-Union published a story that quoted Watterson as saying, "I am just taking a stand against homosexuality."
[Campus becomes gay rights microcosm - St. Petersberg Times - 11-29-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
November 29, 2004
South Carolina state Rep. John Graham Altman (R-Charleston) is tired of leftist propaganda promoting the gay lifestyle on a local public television station. The way Altman sees it, if SCETV can afford to produce pro-gay propaganda, then it can afford another massive budget cut. The only problem is Altman doesn't have his facts straight.
America, take comfort. It's not censorship when you're protecting kids from leftist pro-gay propaganda trying to turn our country into Sodom and Gomorrah.
"I thought it was just social, leftist propaganda that they had no business airing," said state Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston. "They were actively promoting homosexuality as an OK thing to do."SCETV president Maurice Bresnahan says his agency isn’t promoting an agenda by showing "We are your Neighbors" as part of its twice-monthly Southern Lens series of stories about life in the South.
"An analogy would be a librarian buying books for the bookshelf. 'We are your Neighbors' was just one 26-minute show out of 8,700 hours of programming. We are just presenting a point of view. This is just one book on a shelf of thousands of books," Bresnahan said.
[SCETV targeted after airing documentary - State - 11-29-04]
filed under: Free Speech
, Moral Majority
November 28, 2004
After watching the ABC 20/20 segment on Matthew Shepard, I was reminded that even murderers have their version of events. How fascinating to think that all this time I believed the murderer's attorney that they killed Shepard in a maniacal "gay panic." Thanks ABC for broadening my horizons.
If you saw the segment, what did you think? Check out GLAAD's call to action.
The expensively-coiffed airhead Elizabeth Vargas is no Mike Wallace. Her doe-eyed questioning never really confronted the killers with the many contradictions between their latest version of events and the one offered up by their lawyers at their trial--the "homosexual panic" defense that said they were justified in the violence of their assault on Shepard because he'd made advances to one of them. Oh, this defense was mentioned (although never really explained), and Vargas allowed one of the killers to say it was only an invention of convenience cooked up with his lawyer. But none of the extensive accounts presented at trial as part of this defense were mentioned, nor were any legal or psychiatric authorities on "gay panic" asked to comment or dissect the murderers' equivocations.
["20/20" and MATTHEW SHEPARD - Doug Ireland - 11-27-04]Vargas' objective is not truth, but a different, more pernicious brand of distortion. In her version of Matt's death, it's not enough to suggest that the killers weren't anti-gay; she goes much further, excusing them from any responsibility for their actions. Throw in the lewdly suggestive and irrelevant details from Matt's life -- including the repeated charge that he was suicidal -- and the result is not journalism, but pornography.
[Hatchet Job - Center Square - 11-26-04]
filed under:
November 28, 2004
If Wallace could be brought back to life today to reprise his 1963 moment of infamy outside Foster Auditorium, he would still be correct. Alabama voters made sure of that Nov. 2, refusing to approve a constitutional amendment to erase segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks.
[Alabama vote opens old racial wounds - Washington Post - 11-27-04]But when it came to the heated ballot measure, many of the voters who brought Kerry his Oregon victory departed from the Democratic orthodoxy and helped provide the winning edge to the initiative which banned same-sex marriage in Oregon.
[Kerry backers in Portland parted ways on gay marriage - Oregonian - 11-27-04]Many colleges and high schools began to abandon the tradition in the 1990s, replacing the king and queen with homecoming "royals" and "top 10 students." Some, including Duke University, did away with homecoming in the 1970s, when advocates for women's rights succeeded in arguing that the contests were archaic and sexist and that they promoted stereotypical sex roles.
[Gay students lead to homecoming tradition changes - Sun News - 11-28-04]The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has strongly criticised the harsh language used against gay people by traditionalist members of the Anglican church in its dispute over homosexuality.
[Anglicans urged to ease up on gay criticism - BBC - 11-28-04]
filed under: Sunday Read
November 27, 2004
Media Matters is terribly concerned about how "moral values" is becoming a legacy of the 2004 elections.
Following the November 2 presidential election, Media Matters for America documented the media's largely unquestioning acceptance of the notion that "moral values" determined the election. In their acceptance, the media did not explain or define what voters meant by "moral values." MMFA found that during the five days after the election, network and cable news outlets gave conservative religious leaders a forum in which to provide that definition; these leaders often appeared without other guests to counter their claims.
[Media allowed conservative religious leaders to define "moral values" - Media Matters - 11-24-04]
I respect the work Media Matters does, but it isn't the media's role to prevent debates from being framed one way or the other. The media should strike a balance in the conversations they present, but how could they on the impact of "moral values" when most defeated liberals were refusing to have this conversation after the 2004 elections?
Some liberal pundits, bloggers, activists and organizations went out of their way to dismiss the impact of "moral values" on the elections with little or no reasonable explanation. These same liberals are as dismissive today of the conversation as they were during the elections, seeking to blame anything and everything despite the glaring facts before them.
filed under: Moral Majority
November 27, 2004
According to school officials in Boyd County Kentucky, harassment has decreased since the school district was forced to uphold the federal Equal Access Act. Earlier this year, the ACLU won a lawsuit protecting the civil liberties of gay students who were told they could not form a club or meet in their public high school.
Ever since the ruling, religious conservatives have been fighting to have the good old days of harassment and discrimination back in Boyd County. Some Christian conservatives can't stand laws placing gays and lesbians on equal footing when their faith tells them on a weekly basis that gays deserve death, eternal hell and nothing more.
Superintendent Bill Capehart said the district is doing the best it can to balance strong community sentiment on both sides of the issue.He said that despite the lingering controversy, the district is seeing positive results from the consent decree and the training it requires.
"We've had significantly lower harassment incidents reported," Capehart said. "Teachers are much more aware of harassment, even in its minor stages."
[Gay-rights dispute lingers in Boyd schools - Courier Journal - 11-27-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
November 26, 2004
Jamie Rich doesn't believe national gay advocacy groups get it.
“Not understanding that all politics is local, the national advocacy groups learned a huge lesson,” said Jamie Rich, former director of the Lesbian & Gay Community Center of Greater Kansas City.“They can't roll into this part of the country and talk to us like we're hicks in the sticks,” he said. “We do have to be patient if people don't understand. … We have to build long-term visibility in our communities.”
Polls suggest that public backlash to a Feb. 6 ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which momentarily legalized same-sex marriage there, fueled concerns for “moral values” that helped lift President Bush to re-election.
[Gay-rights groups take cue from Christian right of 1980s - Kansas City Star - 11-26-04]
filed under:
November 26, 2004
The Bush Administration has a funny way of justifying abstinence-only sex education. Who needs science? Despite the fact that nearly 100% of sexually mature humans will have sex, telling them not to changes all that. Just ask Wade Horn whose "biology" kept him a virgin until he was married.
"We don't need a study, if I remember my biology correctly, to show us that those people who are sexually abstinent have a zero chance of becoming pregnant or getting someone pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease," said Wade Horn, the assistant secretary of Health and Human Services in charge of federal abstinence funding.Those who say schools also should be teaching youths how to use contraceptives say Horn's argument ignores reality. Surveys indicate that roughly 50 percent of teens say they have sex before they leave high school. While the nation's teenage pregnancy rate is declining, young people 15 to 24 account for about half the new cases of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States each year.
[Bush Seeks Funds for Abstinence Education - AP -11-26-04]
To get a sense of where the White House is going on this issue, check out the White House press briefing from 11-17-04. Bush's nomination of Margaret Spellings for Secretary of Education puts an abstinence-only advocate in position to strip sex education down to simply telling kids not to have sex.
filed under: For The Record
November 24, 2004
Egg Nog Latte from Sean Paajanen
2 cups egg nog
1 tbs rum
1 tbs bourbon
1 cup hot coffee
Heat egg nog until hot (do not boil). Blend with liqueurs and coffee in a blender until nog is frothy. Serve warm, or with fruit cups.
filed under:
November 24, 2004
I am constantly amazed at how completely uneducated some public school administrators are about very basic constitutional protections of free speech. I'm a staunch supporter of free speech, also defending student's right to wear t-shirts using the Bible to condemn homosexuality.
The latest assault on the law by a Missouri public school administrator is exactly why the United States Constitution ought to be a required course in public high schools. Public school administrators shouldn't be allowed to violate the civil rights of students.
By the account of the civil liberties union, the student, Brad Mathewson, a 16-year-old junior, was sent to the principal's office at Webb City High School on Oct. 20 for wearing a T-shirt that he said came from the Gay-Straight Alliance at a school he previously attended, in Fayetteville, Ark. The shirt bore a pink triangle and the words "Make a Difference!"Mr. Mathewson, the A.C.L.U. said, was told to turn the shirt inside out or go home and change. Instead he traded shirts with a friend, who wore the gay pride shirt the rest of the day without incident.
A week later, Mr. Mathewson was again admonished for wearing a gay pride T-shirt, this one featuring a rainbow and the inscription "I'm gay and I'm proud." Told once more to turn the shirt instead out or leave, he chose to go home and was eventually ordered not to return to school wearing clothing supporting gay rights.
[Battle on Gay Pride Shirts Leads to Suit Against School - New York Times - 11-24-04]
filed under: Free Speech
November 24, 2004
In their religious exuberance to rid the church of gays, Catholics are vandalizing their own Cathedrals ... literally.
Police are investigating an informal exorcism at the Cathedral of St. Paul, which was directed at gay Roman Catholics and will cost thousands of dollars to clean up, police and church officials said.They said the ritualistic sprinkling of blessed oil and salt around the church and in donation boxes earlier this month amounted to costly vandalism and possibly a hate crime.
The damage was discovered Nov. 7 after the noon Mass, and after words were exchanged between members of the Rainbow Sash Alliance, a gay rights group, and the opposing group, Catholics Against Sacrilege.
[Informal exorcism at St. Paul Cathedral prompts investigation - Star Tribune - 11-24-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
November 24, 2004
Was Matthew Shepard an HIV positive student who hung out with his killer in an underground clique of meth users? This Friday, ABC's 20/20 will air a story suggesting Matthew Shepard was a victim of his own choices rather than his sexual orientation.
So what are we to make of 20/20’s "shocking" revelations (and they are described as "shocking")? Well, the show presents well-documented facts that — on the face of it — change the widely held Matthew Shepard story. These facts are: 1) Shepard was HIV-positive and apparently very upset and depressed about it. 2) Shepherd was a frequent user of crystal meth, and was part of a Laramie bar-and-nightlife community that was involved in meth use. 3) Shepard knew his killer, Aaron McKinney, through this drug connection before the night of the murder, and the two had been seen socializing together. 4) McKinney was an active bisexual with a history of engaging in sex with men (something he denies during the 20/20 show, but several other people insist it’s true). 5) And most important, McKinney and Russell Henderson did not kill Matthew Shepard because he was gay; instead, their attempt to rob him went terribly wrong when McKinney flew into a meth-fueled rage and beat Shepard so severely that he died.
[A troubling vision of Matthew Shepard - Boston Pheonix - 11-24-04]
filed under:
November 24, 2004
This past Sunday, the Washington Post placed a 16 page paid insert against gay marriage. The lead story was by Dr. Derek Grier, founding pastor of Grace Christian Church here in Woodbridge, Virginia. Grier's peice, "SAME SEXUALITY & RACE," highlights Grier's anger over activists comparing sexuality with race.
This concept of “immutability” was the very foundation that the civil rights movement was built. My forbearers successfully argued that it was discriminatory and immoral to limit the rights of anyone based on things they could not change. Sex is not a biological trait but a deed. It should not share the same status as ethnicity.
[SEXUALITY & RACE - Both Sides Magazine - 11-21-04]
The idea that sexual orientation is a choice isn't at all what concerns Pastor Grier. If it were, Grier would be mobilizing to end another protected "deed" that isn't "immutable" and causing immoral religious lifestyle choices to proliferate in America.
The protection of religious choice in America is responsible for sending millions of Americans to Hell more than any other legally protected civil right. Grier defends such laws protecting alternative religious lifestyle choices even though these laws publicly promote false Gods to America's children.
Why does Grier believe that protection of religious choice should share the same status as ethnicity? Grier tolerates laws protecting the promotion of alternative religious lifestyles choices, yet he opposes laws protecting people's right to commit their life and love to one another. This immoral paradox consuming Grier is indefensible.
As Grier well knows, alternative religious lifestyle choices deserve legal protection, even though they are not immutable traits. People should not be discriminated against for choosing to be a Christian, Muslim or Jew just as people should not be forced to engage in the religious lifestyle choices of others.
Thankfully, whether people are going to Hell for their religious lifestyle choice is of no concern to the government. Equality under the law has served our nation well, and will continue to challenge people like Grier to live up to their faith and the higher principles of fairness and equality under the law.
filed under: Moral Majority
November 23, 2004
filed under:
November 23, 2004
If you want a peek into the rampant homophobia and uneducated fear of gays consuming Jamaica, look no further than today's Jamaica Observer. You might recall the Jamaican Observer citing Outlet Radio as a gay website "wary of Jamaica." Several of us carried a tragic story of a father who urged an angry mob to maul his gay son. Still more stories were subsequently brought to light.
Activists continue to shine the light of truth on Jamaica's regrettable embrace of homophobia. The attention fueled widespread cancellations of major anti-gay dancehall reggae acts in the past three months. Lyrics presented to venues hosting concerts and major televised awards ceremonies advocated the violent murder of gays and lesbians.
Last week, Human Rights Watch issued a report condemning Jamaican authorities for doing very little about anti-gay violence. Those same authorities issued denials suggesting Jamaica is not homophobic. Jamaican Observer's Betty Ann Blaine sums up Jamaica's blind defense of the violent atmosphere disgracing this once popular Caribbean destination.
It is bad enough that people can choose to engage in perverted behaviour, but to then believe that they have the right to impose their views and lifestyles on the rest of us, and to present it to children as normal, is to me the most abominable aspect of this growing scourge.The tragedy of Jamaica is that we are ripe for infiltration, and for the proliferation of homosexuality because of the grinding and pervasive poverty that exist. More and more of our young children are being lured into homosexual acts entirely for money and the ability to get things.
['The New Gay World Order' - Jamaican Observer - 11-23-04]
filed under:
November 23, 2004
Almost half (six of 14) of hate crime murders in 2003 were due to sexual orientation. Here are some numbers for comparison.
|
|
Hate Crimes Reported |
Hate crimes based on sexual orientation |
Percentage of crimes based on sexual orientation |
|
1994 |
5,932 |
685 |
11.5% |
|
1995 |
7,947 |
1,019 |
12.8% |
|
1996 |
8,759 |
1,016 |
11.6% |
|
1997 |
8,049 |
1,102 |
13.7% |
|
1998 |
7,755 |
1,260 |
16.2% |
|
1999 |
7,876 |
1,317 |
16.7% |
|
2000 |
8,063 |
1,299 |
16.1% |
|
2001 |
9,730 |
1,393 |
14.3% |
|
2002 |
7,462 |
1,244 |
16.7% |
| 2003 | 7,489 | 1,239 | 16.4% |
filed under: For The Record
November 23, 2004
The evangelical base of the Republican party is not happy with the party protecting that moderate Senate Republican baby killer Arlen Specter. Didn't the moral majority help President Bush get elected? Doesn't the Republican party owe them some respect?
"If the Republicans do what they've done in the past, which is to say, 'Thanks so much for putting us in power, now we don't want to talk to you anymore,' they will pay a severe price in four years and maybe two."This is Dobson's moment. An influential figure among evangelical Christians for more than 25 years, Dobson stands to be a force during President Bush's second term after a significant restructuring of his $147 million ministry, his own unprecedented jump onto the campaign trail and the strong role moral values played in the 2004 vote.
[Dobson shifts his agenda to conservative politics - Denver Post 11-20-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
November 22, 2004
I got a good laugh from this letter to the editor of today's Jamaican Gleaner from fearful heterosexual Laundia Blair. Blair thinks anti-gay Jamaican dancehall music helps keeps the gays from taking over the planet.
It would appear that the homosexual community is on a mission to outnumber the quantity of heterosexual individuals on this planet and take their homosexuality to new heights.This plan has appeared to have already begun, as the homosexual community and their supporters appear to have enough power in hand. Their power is enough to force the promoters of various events around the world to drop many of our local dancehall artistes from their list of performers.
At this rate, our society will eventually move from a state where the homosexual community only occupied a minor percentage of the populace and being heterosexual was the norm, to a state where homosexuals will occupy the majority and being a hetero-sexual will not be considered to be normal.
[Gay conspiracy - Jamaican Gleaner - 11-22-04]
filed under:
November 22, 2004
Should drag kings be able to enter MetroWeekly's "Nightlife Coverboy of the Year" contest? Every year, D.C.'s lgbt magazine features some of the areas hottest men vying for the year's front cover. This year 47 men are asking for your vote, or so it seems. A closer look at 27 year-old coverboy candidate "Allix" suggest things might not be what they appear.
Allix, a.k.a. Maximum Head, Pux Allot or Allix Allot, is a well-known drag king. You wouldn't know it reading the provided bio Metro Weekly lists along with Allix's photos. Unbeknownst to the other candidates, and maybe even Metro Weekly, Allix is looking to do the unthinkable: become Metro Weekly's "Nightlife Coverboy of the Year" as a drag king!
According to Allix Allot's bio on DCKings, "Allix developed a deep-seated animosity for all authority figures as well as a deep-rooted affinity for all things kinky and hard core. His early exploits and favorite vices are well documented in juvenile court and reform school files."
Should Allix's animosity for authority allow him to break the rules? All this week, until November 28, voters will choose the top ten for a final vote December 2-8. To vote for Allix, click here.
filed under: Exclusives
November 22, 2004
Some gay activists prefer we pretend the Republican evangelical base doesn't exist, but Deb Price isn't drinking from that punch bowl.
Like the hapless TV weatherman doomed in the hit comedy "Groundhog Day" to relive the same miserable day over and over until he gets it right, Democratic politicians can expect to suffer through endless anti-gay sequels to Election 2004.Or, like the "Groundhog Day" weatherman, they can learn from their mistakes and wake up to a better day.
How can the mousy Democrats get off the defensive and outfox their deceitful rivals? Unmask the amend-the Constitution crowd that bogusly claims not to have an anti-gay agenda. Expose them for what they are -- way out of step with mainstream America on guaranteeing all Americans essential legal protections.
[Democrats need to call bluff of anti-gay crowd - Detroit News - 11-22-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
November 21, 2004
With five state unions about to ratify new contracts that allow gay workers to extend their benefits to domestic partners, several groups are likely to use the new law to challenge those benefits. The American Family Association of Michigan, which helped lead the fight for the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, said its passage prohibits the state from treating gay relationships as similar to marriages.
[Law challenges union benefits for gay pairs - Detroit News - 11-21-04]Florida is the only state with a complete ban on adoption by gays and lesbians, either as a couple or as single parents. Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union took its challenge of the ban to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to decide in early January whether to hear the case filed on behalf of four gay men raising Florida foster children they cannot legally adopt.
[Groups join forces to oppose state’s ban on gay adoptions - Sun Sentinel - 11-20-04]Federal health officials are advising doctors to be on the alert for a rare sexually transmitted disease that is on the increase among gay men in the Netherlands and other countries.
The disease, lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, has been diagnosed in more than 90 gay men in the Netherlands, and cases also have been reported in Belgium, France and Sweden. The infection is caused by a variant of the bacterium that causes chlamydia and can be treated with antibiotics. But unlike routine cases of chlamydia, LGV can cause severe gastrointestinal distress, including inflammation and bleeding of the rectum and colon.
[Rare STD afflicting gay men in Europe - Indy Star - 11-21-04]In Oliver Stone's three-hour drama, "Alexander," Colin Farrell, as the fourth-century Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great, has a number of tender love scenes with his best friend, Hephaistion, played by a long-haired Jared Leto. In the film, which cost about $155 million to produce, Alexander is also married to Roxane, played by Rosario Dawson, but the marriage takes a back seat to his passion for his boyhood friend.
[Breaking Ground With a Gay Movie Hero - New York Times - 11-20-04]There has been much talk about just how much traction the moral-issues agenda generated at the polls among black ministers. Some early media wisdom rendered the election as something of a church revival with the most solid Christian declared the winner. "Bush is a good Christian" was the refrain attributed to scores of black ministers voting for the president and apparently urging their flocks to do likewise. Some 20 percent of George W. Bush voters overall cited "moral values" as a cutting edge issue. Not everyone missed the point.
[Bush, the black vote and moral values - NewsDay - 11-21-04]Robin Bodiford, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who lobbied county commissioners to pass the initiatives, had called for a walkout as Rodstrom accepted his award.
A week's worth of bickering among activists over whether to walk out -- and Rodstrom's own promise that he would make amends for his voting record -- arrived Saturday night with the presentation of the award.
But when Rodstrom's name was called, Bodiford was the only one to stand and walk away.
[Anti-Rodstrom walkout fizzles - Sun Sentinel - 11-21-04]
filed under: Sunday Read
November 20, 2004
Hollywood's Oliver Stone must not care that this country was founded on Jesus and doesn't take kindly to dress-wearing dudes hanging out with a bunch of men and young boys.
Alexander lived in a more honest time. We go into his bisexuality. It may offend some people, but sexuality in those days was a different thing. Pre-Christian morality. Young boys were with boys when they wanted to be," Ananova quoted him as saying.Stone also said that the scenes had not been added to titillate the audience "You only need five words. Alexander says, 'Stay with me tonight, Hephaistion,' and you get it. If you don't get it, f*** you, it's your problem," he added. (ANI)
[Being gay in Alexander's time normal: Oliver Stone - NewKerla - 11-19-04]
Alexander's lawyers should realize if he's to conquer these rumors, he should take it directly to the people, not shop lawsuits around for activist judges.
"We are not saying that we are against gays but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the audience that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander," Yannis Varnakos, who spearheads the campaign by 25 lawyers, told Reuters on Friday.
[Outraged Greeks say Alexander was not bisexual - Reuters - 11-19-04]
filed under: Media
November 20, 2004
This morning, I got a weird form email from Senator John Kerry. For some reason, Senator Kerry wants me and other supporters to click here, watch a video, then sign on as a co-sponsor of a child health care bill.
Health care for children sounds like a great idea, and I love Kerry's proactive effort. But shouldn't I be able to read the text of the bill I'm supposed to be co-sponsoring? Senator Kerry must not have noticed how angry we Democrats were with Republicans in the past few months for engaging in this car salesman tactic of withholding language of bills being debated.
In an October 14 debate with President Bush, John Kerry said his dying mother left three words with him: integrity, integrity, integrity. It would be nice not to hear his opponents remind him of that when Kerry touts a hundred thousand co-sponsors who never even read his bill.
filed under: For The Record
November 19, 2004
How naive, idealistic and immoral of Beverly Senkowski and her partner Jacqueline Frank to believe they could ever start a family and achieve the American dream in a place they called home. How arrogant are they to think the rest of us should be forced to rethink our traditional moral values to accomodate their sinful lifestyle?
Senkowski said the amendment would make it virtually impossible for her and her partner to live in Ohio. They would have no protections or benefits, such as hospital visitation rights, health care provisions, second-parent adoption rights or the ability to claim each other's body after death, she said."Today I had to face the fact that I can't go home and be treated equally," said Senkowski. "I caught myself crying a lot more than I would (have thought)."
Senkowski, 47, and Frank, 38, registered for domestic partnership shortly after arriving in San Francisco in March 2003 -- a status that doesn't exist in Ohio.
[Gay couple from Ohio find refuge in California - Daily Review - 11-19-04]
filed under:
November 19, 2004
Please don't disturb the peacefull slumber of gay activists and pundits who would rather pretend the evangelical base of the Republican party simply doesn't exist.
Pointing to the wave of anti-gay-marriage ballot measures approved in 11 states and the 22 percent of voters who cited "moral values" as their chief concern, the right is eager to claim credit for Bush's win. In past elections, evangelicals helped get out the vote but then quietly returned to their pulpits. Not this time. After years of frustrating Democratic rule followed by a gridlocked Congress under Bush, they now hold daily conference calls and meetings to review a long legislative wish list: conservative judicial appointments, a federal amendment banning gay marriage, abortion restrictions, tougher obscenity laws, school vouchers, a ban on all human cloning. And they're counting on Bush to deliver. "We're going to strike out and demand a conservative agenda," says direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie. "If we don't do it now, when do we do it?"
[Of Prayer and Payback - Newsweek - 11-22-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
November 19, 2004
If Martin Luther King were alive today, would he have become yet another silent face in the crowd ponying up $250 a ticket for black-tie dinners funding lobbyists and lawsuits? Or would he have made certain money raised properly funded the real work that needed to be done?
Whatever you feel about the rights that have been gained through the courts, it is easy to see that dependence on judges has damaged the progressive movement and its causes. Liberals "became lazy at some point," says Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who has worked for groups as diverse as the Christian Coalition and the Democratic Leadership Council. "By relying on the judiciary, their political muscles have atrophied."Eric Hauser, a progressive political strategist, agrees: "When you get a chance to make progress in court you have to take it. But over the long term we have become too dependent. . . . We have forgotten what it feels like to have a shot and a beer with a guy in Toledo."
[Take issues to the people, not courts - NewsDay - 11-19-04]
filed under:
November 18, 2004
When the Michigan State Republican Party lawyers saw Michael Moore giving away underwear and Ramon noodles for votes, they sued him. When they saw Michigan's favorite Republican First Lady Michelle Engler earn a seat on the Federal Home Mortgage Insurance Corp. board, they cheered.
One-third of President Bush's top 2000 fund-raisers or their spouses were appointed to positions in his first administration, from ambassadorships in Europe to seats on policy-setting boards, an Associated Press review found.The perks for 246 "pioneers" who raised at least $100,000 also included overnight stays at the White House and Camp David, parties at the White House and Bush's Texas ranch, state dinners with world leaders and overseas travel with U.S. delegations to the Olympics and other events, the review found.
Top fund-raisers say the real charm of the rewards was getting the chance to rub elbows with the president.
"All of us in politics, we've done so many parties and receptions it's old hat to us," said David Miner, a North Carolina textile executive and state lawmaker who helped raise more than $100,000 for Bush in 2000. He was rewarded with invitations to the White House, the vice presidential mansion and Bush's ranch.
"But knowing that here's the commander in chief, the most powerful man on the face of the earth, and you have this first-name-basis with him, that's very special," Miner said.
[Some of Bush Fund-Raisers Got Appointments - AP - 11-18-04]
filed under:
November 18, 2004
If Mr. Elledge and his Republican colleagues can't pass some unconstitutional law banning gay kids from public school, he can always ask them to step into the cafeteria ovens.
"They are teaching acceptance and that it's OK to be a homosexual and to practice homosexual sex acts," said John Elledge chairman of the Republican Party of Harrisonburg, Va. "I'm all for just getting along, but I'm not at all for having a sexually oriented club in our high school.""Somewhere, you have to draw a line," said Mr. Elledge, who also serves as the legislative assistant for Delegate Glenn M. Weatherholtz, Harrisonburg Republican. "It may be that they think the community is approving of this."
['Gay-straight' clubs in schools anger foes - Washington Times - 11-18-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
November 18, 2004
When Bush/Cheney '04 pandered to the fears and prejudices of their party's evangelical base, they knew they'd deliver the votes. Now Republicans are faced with an empowered radical party base demanding the lynching of party moderate Arlen Specter.
What are Republicans to do? Do they publicly herald radical agendas of their evangelical base, or do they publicly isolate their evangelical base and support Specter? Oh, the choices Republicans face.
But how did this happen? What is fueling a looming specter of isolation and dissatisfaction of an emboldened evangelical base of the Republican party? Two words: EXIT POLLS.
When Senator Arlen Specter wins his judiciary chairmanship, he can thank all those Republicans scared to death that they'd appear to validate the suggestion by exit-polls that evangelicals own the Republican party. Republicans will be the first ones to embrace exit-poll data suggesting slight gains among women, blacks and others. If Democrats want to win, they will also seize the leverage provided by exit-polls that tell the American people who is really driving Republican policy proposals over the next four years.
"It's sounding like the Republicans are cutting a deal with Specter to allow him to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee despite his insult to the president, his 24-year liberal record, his double-speak and his core beliefs about judges and the Constitution, which conflict with the president's," said Jan LaRue, CWA's chief counsel."Do they think the people who are inundating them with calls and emails will be satisfied with that?"
[Why Specter? Conservative Group Asks - CNS - 11-18-04]
filed under: Moral Majority
, Polls
November 18, 2004
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Massachussets reported 17,099 same-sex couples. About 25% of them have gotten married in the last 6 months.
In the first week after the Supreme Judicial Court decision took effect on May 17, 2,500 gay and lesbian couples applied for licenses; 1,700 have done so in the six months since then, according to unofficial tallies by the Globe and state officials.In all, the state's Registry of Vital Records has received an estimated 4,266 marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples, a spokeswoman said yesterday.
[Fewer gay couples seek marriage licenses - Boston Globe - 11-17-04]
filed under: Equal Marriage Rights