Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJuly 13th, 2012
TODAY’S AGENDA (Ours):
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Bournemouth, UK; Bristol, UK; Charleston, SC; Glasgow, UK; Green Bay, WI; Munich, Germany; Peel, ON; Reading, PA; Rochester, NY; and Tacoma, WA.
AIDS Walk This Weekend: San Francisco, CA.
Other Celebrations This Weekend: Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo, Golden, CO; QFest Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA; Bear Week, Provincetown, MA.
TODAY’S AGENDA (Theirs):
Journey Into Manhood Weekend: San Bernardino, CA. The city of San Bernardino made news yesterday when the county sheriff’s office announced a criminal investigation to look into allegations of misconduct following the city’s announcement it would file for bankruptcy. It turns out that there are all kinds of bankruptcy lurking around San Bernardino’s environs, and not just of the financial sort. Journey Into Manhood will bring its bankrupt hodge-podge of psychobabble and Richard Cohen-style cuddling into the nearby wilderness for a weekend retreat for men who don’t want to be gay. What could possibly go wrong with that? Just ask Ted Cox, a straight journalist, who went undercover for a JIM weekend in Arizona where he discovered that during one of those cuddling sessions, well…
I don’t remember exactly when I felt his erection pressing into my back. It might have been while he whispered in my ear, “Long ago, you were the Golden Child. But, somehow, that Golden Child was hurt, and you put up a wall to protect yourself.”
…I sat on the floor between the outstretched legs of a camp guide, my head leaning back against his shoulder. The guide sat behind me, his arms wrapped around my chest. This hold was called “The Motorcycle.” Five men surrounded the two of us, their hands resting gently on my arms, legs and chest.
And for all of that and $650, JIM claims a 79% success rate. I guess it depends on how you define “success.” One of JIM’s life coaches, Alan Downing, was accused by two of his clients of inappropriate behavior and sexual impropriety. One staffer at an Arizona JIM weekend was none other than Lee Caleb Brundidge, one of the three American extremists who travelled to Kampala in 2009 to host the explosive ex-gay conference that set the stage for the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. I think you get the picture. The whole psychologically-bankrupt manly-man’s he-man butchout and cuddle camp starts today at an undisclosed location somewhere near that other epicenter of bankruptcy, and continues through Sunday.
Family “Research” Council’s Values Bus Tour: Lisbon Falls, ME. Maine will hold an election this fall to determine whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry. So kind of a coincidence is it that the Family “Research” Council, an SPLC-certified hate group, is bringing its Values Bus Tour to the Pine Tree State? The bus, which is part voter registration drive and part campaign platform, will spend this evening and tomorrow at Lisbon Falls as part of that town’s Moxie festival, named for a unique soft drink — and one of the nation’s first mass-produced soft drinks — which is still sold locally. Moxie started out as a patent medicine, which supposedly cured “paralysis, softening of the brain, nervousness, and insomnia.” FRC will be there to sell their own version of snake oil. They will be at Lisbon High School tonight from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., and the bus will participate in the festival’s parade tomorrow morning.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
Gay Pub Raided in London: 1810. From The Times of London: “The existence of a Club, or Society, for the purpose so detestable and repugnant to the common feelings of our nature, that by no word can it be described without committing an outrage upon decency, has for some time been suspected by the Magistrates of Bow-street; who cautiously concealing the odious secret, abstained from taking any steps on the information they had received, until an opportunity should offer of surprising the whole gang. About 11 o’clock last Sunday evening, three separate parties of the patrole, attended by constables, were detached from Bow-street on this service. … The enterprise was completely successful. — We regret most deeply, that the information given at the office was found to be so accurate, that the Officers felt themselves justified in seizing no fewer than 23 individuals, at a public-house, called the White Swan, in Vere-street, Clare-market.”
Two men were found guilty of sodomy and were hanged. Six more were found guilty of attempted sodomy and were made to stand at the pillory. The crowds who turned out for the pillory were particularly violent, throwing rotten fish, dead cats, “cannonballs” made of mud, and vegetables at the convicted men. The men were severely injured and barely survived their allotted time at the pillory.
“Brothers” Debuts: 1984. The first American television program featuring a gay lead character finally debuted on Showtime. The show, set in Philadelphia, centered around the three Waters brothers: Lou was a typical blue-collar construction foreman, Joe was a retired placekicker for the Philadelphia Eagles and owner of a sports bar, and Cliff, who in the first episode left his bride at the altar and came out to his family as a gay man. ABC and NBC had already turned down the series out of fear of portraying homosexuality on prime time, but when Showtime decided to begin producing original television series, they saw Brothers as the perfect fit. After a successful first season, Showtime decided to pick up the series for a second season. Showtime also offer the series for syndication to over-the-air broadcast stations, and the fledgling Fox network decided to jump on that deal. Brother would go on for a full five seasons and 115 episodes.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Robert Gant: 1968. He was Ben Bruckner in the American version of “Queer as Folk.” His HIV-positive character gave the series an opportunity to explore anti-AIDS hysteria and stigma, both outside and inside the gay community. He has had numerous television guest roles, and he acted and produced in Save Me
If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).
And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?
July 12th, 2012
TODAY’S AGENDA:
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Bournemouth, UK; Bristol, UK; Charleston, SC; Glasgow, UK; Green Bay, WI; Munich, Germany; Peel, ON; Reading, PA; Rochester, NY; and Tacoma, WA.
AIDS Walk This Weekend: San Francisco, CA.
Other Celebrations This Weekend: Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo, Golden, CO; QFest Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA; Bear Week, Provincetown, MA.
Van Cliburn's historic performance at the first Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, 19589
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Van Cliburn: 1934. In 1958, the Soviet Union, flush with the technological success of Sputnik, inaugurated the first International Tchaikovsky Competition to showcase the Soviet’s cultural superiority. But twenty-four year old Van Cliburn’s astounding performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 resulted in a standing ovation lasting eight minutes. With an American clearly the crowd favorite to take what was supposed to have been a Soviet showcase, the judges reportedly sought Khrushchev permission. “”Is he the best? Then give him the prize!” so the story goes. Cliburn returned to the U.S. to a hero’s welcome, becoming the first and only classical musician to be treated to a New York ticker-tape parade. His 1958 Grammy-winning recording of Tchaikovsky’s first Piano Concerto became the first classical album to go platinum and was the best-selling classical album for more than a decade. It would eventually go on to go triple platinum and is still available for download
Van Cliburn's return to Moscow, 2011
In 1962, he became the artistic adviser for his own namesake competition, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years in Ft. Worth, Texas. His own competition now rivals the Tchaikovsky in international stature. He continued performing and recording through the 1960s and 1970s, but after the deaths of his father and manager, he took a hiatus from public life. He came out of retirement in 1987 to perform at the White House for President Ronald Reagan and Soviet president Mikhael Gorbachev. In 2011, Van Cliburn returned to the XCI Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, where he served as an honorary juror and was treated like a rock star.
Cheyenne Jackson: 1975. He was named for show business, named by his father after a 1950s Western television series. He is a talented actor and singer, working on stage, film and television. His biggest role to date was as gay 9/11 hero Mark Bingham in the 2006 Oscar nominated United 93, though he was not yet out yet. Publicly at least. He came out to his parents at the age of 19. His conservative Christian family — including his brother who pastors a large evangelical church and often appears on Pat Robertson’s CBN — encouraged him to enroll in an Exodus International program, but he quietly refused. Fortunately, his family has mostly come around since then.
Jackson came out publicly in 2008, in an interview with the New York Times. That same year, he appeared in a New York production of Damn Yankees with Jane Krakowski and Sean Hayes. In 2009, he opened on Broadway in a revival of Finian’s Rainbows. He has also had recurring roles on television with NBC’s 30 Rock and Fox’s Glee. In 2009, he released a CD with Michael Feinstein, The Power Of Two. He is an avid LGBT rights supporter and an ambassador for amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research), and in 2011, he appeared in the New York stage reading of Dustin Lance Black’s play, 8, based on on the Proposition 8 trial transcript. Last September, he married his husband, physicist Monte Lapka, after New York legalized same-sex marriage. The couple have been together since 1999.
Jackson’s immediate future remains bright. In June, it was announced that he will appear in NBC’s The Munsters remake, Mockingbird Lane, where he will play Scout Master Steve, a widower who falls in love with Lily Munster. Later this year, he will appear in an as-yet undisclosed role for HBO’s Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra. And he will also return to Broadway in The Performers, a comedy about the porn industry. And because all of that isn’t enough, his solo album Drive is due out next month.
If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).
And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?
A Book Review
July 12th, 2012
If I were a heterosexual leftist New Yorker with little familiarity of gay culture, language, and history, I would delight in Linda Hirshman’s Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution
Many will find the book an enjoyable read. And reviewers who have at least some of those characteristics have written glowing reviews. For example, to Rich Benjamin, writing in the New York Times, it recalls the days when Angels in America had its first run and Amtrak lost his autographed copy of Paul Monette’s Borrowed Time.
But what makes Victory a pleasure to read is also what makes it a flawed history of the gay movement.
Hirshman tells the stories of activists and individuals who lived their lives and endured – or fought against – the oppressions that were imposed upon them. And in doing so she breathes life into dry facts and gives the reader – initially – a sense of connection to the action. However, she make the error that is a temptation with this writing style; she selects stories and anecdotes that tells the narrative that she wishes to have told, at the expense of diverse characters and often at the expense of reality.
For Hirshman, the fascinating issue is how this one subset of the Progressive Movement drew from its communist beginnings to overcome oppression and rejection. Unlike the feminist movement which was fractured by women who succumbed to the lure of conformity and the civil rights movement which could not solidify under a banner of radicalism, the gay community stayed united and committed to revolution and in the process won the freedom to hold their head high… and wear women’s clothing.
Because don’t we all?
And it is the oh-so-astonishing accomplishment of a man doing a drag number at a company dinner that is Exhibit A in just how far we’ve come. This opening tale cued me that the author might be out of her element.
But the stereotypes upon which Victory rests come from a different place than the usual ‘gays all want to be women’ that you get from homophobes. Gender noncomformity is transgressive, and a radical challenge to rigidity and thus all drag becomes gender-fuck. It’s a bold political statement.
And as gender revolutionaries, all gay men have a dress and a wig or two. Don’t you? Mine is, appropriately, a copy of Cher’s from her Half Breed days.
Unfortunately, the characters in Hirshman’s tales soon take on a feeling of uniformity and interchangeability. All activists are the children of the New Left. And every association with leftism – however tangential – merits mention while less revolutionary political perspectives are politely downplayed. It is true that some of the early influences on the gay movement came from liberal, leftist, and even communist inspiration and activism. But gay activist was not limited to those on the left, nor was there universal approval and acceptance from those whom Hirshman paints in glowing terms.
For example, Hirshman briefly mentions a half sentence version of the sad parting of ways when early gay leaders resigned from the Communist Party. ” Harry Hay divorced his wife and resigned from the Communist Party. It was 1952. He was at the top of his game.” But that is a version which doesn’t align with my understanding.
I lack the progressive perspective that allows Benjamin accept the glossing over of facts to rave about Hirshman’s dishing and camp. Because while my copy of Borrowed Time wasn’t autographed, I did meet the author. He introduced himself in the bathroom of a banquet room. At the dinner, in fact, that the 90s incarnation of the Communist Party threw to apologize for summarily tossing its gay members out on their ear.
But their sincere contrition has no place in the story Hirshman has to tell.
And even those who were clearly and strongly on the left are portrayed in a single faceted cartoon portrayal that put their personality and sacrifice secondary to Hirshman’s polemic. Her anti-war activist Morris Kight had little in common with the Morris I knew. And the Mattachine activist Dale Jennings of Victory is irreconcilable with the Jennings that, in 1991, objected to street protest.
And while some of Hirshman’s errors in perspective are forgivable – anecdotal information is limited to what those whom you seek out will tell you – some is so skewed as to seem intentionally fraudulent. In an act of baffling chutzpah, she recast the hero of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York while dismissing the real co-architect of repeal, Senator Sue Collins, as just one of Gillibrand’s “Republican gal pals”.
Perhaps had Hirshman ventured outside her circle – and fellow travelers – a better, more interesting and less monochromatic narrative might have emerged. Instead we have not only an ode to Progressivism (I’m being polite) but a New York-centric one at that. A book in which the Black Cat Riots merited half a sentence, California’s LIFE Lobby didn’t exist, AB101 is referenced only in passing (and not by name) without a mention that LA’s gay community shut down LAX.
Victory is a book in which Log Cabin Republicans are never explained and mentioned only when impossible to avoid. A book for which the United Church of Christ must be some small sect, perhaps in the flyover states. A book which relied heavily on family-edited diaries, political manifestos, and the memories of men in which – just like your memories and my own – they were the heroes.
I’m sad. I want to give this effort higher praise than I can. It achieves the difficult task of presenting a lot of information in a compact manner that still remains light and breezy. And though it weighs in at 348 pages, it is not a tome, required reading for the Very Serious.
I very much want to recommend this book as a history of the gay community – though not the history of the gay community. I want to pass it off as a beach book, one whose errors are minor and inconsequential. Sadly, I cannot.
Historical and factual errors were more than occasional. The lack of familiarity with gay language and culture alternated between comical and embarrassing.
But the true crime was Hirshman’s hijacking of a phenomenal tale of social progress, truly astonishing in its scope and timeline, and filled with a cast of diverse and complex individuals, to reshape it into a morality play with her political views as the hero.
A careful and skeptical reader may find it a springboard from which to seek out truer, fairer and more accurate information. There is honesty within the tale. Though skewed, it contains the kernels of very real perceptions of very real people about their very real lives. But unfortunately the end product presents only one perspective as relayed by a person lacking access to any contrasting or nuanced viewpoints – or even any idea that such views exist.
Hirshman landed on the Island of The Homosexuals, talked to a few of the natives that rushed to meet her boat and went away to write her Guide to the Island, With Commentary on its Inhabitants. And as so many books seeking to enlighten the people back home about a strange and fascinating people, it mostly just highlighted the ignorance of its author.
July 11th, 2012
The Portland Press Herald has conducted a poll of Maine voters to determine their position on the upcoming vote on marriage. The paper used the same language that is on the ballot:
In the upcoming November election, there will be a question on the ballot that reads: “Do you want to allow same-sex couples to marry?” If the election were tomorrow, how would you vote on this ballot initiative?
57% – Yes
35% – No
8% – I don’t know
Every age, sex, and education demographic supports marriage equality. The only group that does not is Republicans, who oppose the initiative 64 to 30.
I was unable to find the poll questions, but the language of the question is very neutral and absent some unknown biasing lead-up questions, I think we can reasonably assume that this is representative of the public positions of the voters. There may be some Bradley Effect and the upcoming election advertising may shift the support, but at present this is very very good news.
July 11th, 2012
Anti-gay activists revel in irrelevance. We see it when they condemn same-sex parenting with studies that have nothing to do with same-sex parenting. And now Minnesota for Marriage (M4M) is doing it again as they try to scare us with the dangers of marriage equality. They’ve posted yet another dishonest video. This one says:
What kind of issues would professionals face if marriage is redefined?
Well, doctors, psychologists, social workers, counselors and other professionals who conscientiously object to same-sex marriage could face a range of potential consequences, including license revocation and lawsuits leading to the potential loss of their ability to make a living.
For example, in California, a Christian physician specializing in fertility services who believed that children need a mother and a father refused to provide fertility services to a lesbian couple. Now even though the physician did offer to refer the couple to other physicians who would willingly serve them, the couple still sued the physician and her employer, and won in court. If the marriage protection amendment passes, the moral convictions of professionals in Minnesota will be protected.
They’ve chosen an odd example to make their point. You know why? Because the California case had nothing to do with same-sex marriage.
They’re referring to Guadalupe Benitez and her dispute with North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group, Inc. Ms. Benitez first filed suit in 2001, long before California opened a brief window for same-sex marriage, and the state Supreme Court based its 2008 decision on the Unruh Act, which forbids sexual orientation discrimination in California. Yep — it was about discrimination, not marriage.
Think about that. M4M created (one would assume) the most convincing case possible. It chose (one might expect) the most compelling example available. And yet it failed (one can be certain) to present any relevant facts to back up its claim.
This is common among those who clang the danger bell at the prospect of marriage equality. They cite the Ocean Grove Camp ministry, even though it occurred in a state without same-sex marriage (and ultimately affirmed the right of churches to discriminate!). They cite the New Mexico photographer who was fined for refusing to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony, even though New Mexico doesn’t allow same-sex marriage.
All these cases turned on discrimination law, not same-sex marriage. Our opponents don’t like to admit that. They lose voter support when the issue’s framed that way; lots of folk who aren’t sure about marriage equality are dead-set against discrimination. But mainly, I think, they cloud this issue to keep it from highlighting the dishonesty in their approach — and why make a dishonest case when an honest one is available? I think that question answers itself.
Speaking of dishonesty, let’s look at that last sentence in the M4M quote:
If the marriage protection amendment passes, the moral convictions of professionals in Minnesota will be protected.
Sorry. Even if you ignore their loaded and dubious language, the fact remains that Minnesota has a law prohibiting orientation-based health care discrimination. The proposed marriage amendment changes that not one bit. But why would M4M make such a blatantly dishonest claim if —
Never mind. We just covered that.
July 11th, 2012
If the anti-gay activists had a dollar for every signature they collected to put Referendum 74 on the ballot, they’d be a hundred thousand richer. Which merely proves that it’s easy to get people to sign petitions about things they care very little about.
We told you that the pro-marriage coalition raked in nearly a million bucks last month and now the numbers are official (Seattle Times)
The campaign seeking to overturn the state’s new gay marriage law raised just over $17,000 in cash in June, much less than the nearly $900,000 in cash donations raised by supporters of the law.
According to Public Disclosure Commission filings that posted Tuesday, Preserve Marriage has raised a total of $139,702 for its campaign. Washington United for Marriage has raised more than $2 million.
July 11th, 2012
Following Monday’s approval by Episcopal Bishops, the House of Deputies (clergy and lay members) passed Resolution A049 last evening. (Episcopal News)
In a vote by orders, the House of Deputies concurred with the House of Bishops to pass Resolution A049, which authorizes provisional use of the rite “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant” starting Dec. 2 (the first Sunday of Advent). Clergy will need the permission of their bishop under the terms of the resolution.
The motion in the House of Deputies carried by 78 percent in the clergy order, with the clergy in 85 deputations voting yes, 22 no and four divided; and 76 percent in the lay order, with laity in 86 deputations voting yes, 19 no and five divided. The bishops had approved the resolution on July 9 with a roll call vote of 111 to 41 with three abstentions.
The new liturgy, which is considered a “work in progress”, is a blessing rather than a marriage rite, but it closely follows (and some heterosexual couples say is an improvement on) the church’s marriage liturgy. It includes vows, rings, and language such as “til death do you part”, as well as a formal proclamation by the priest.
July 11th, 2012
The nice polite church ladies in well manicured and politically conservative suburban Minnesota neighborhood have become inspired by the proposed amendment to prohibit gay marriage. So fired up, in fact, that they’ve decided to see if they can make the difference in the election.
They want it to fail. (Atlantic)
It started with Gwin Pratt, a senior pastor at St. Luke Presbyterian Church, which has a long history of advocating for gay rights. After the Minnesota State Legislature voted to include the amendment on the ballot, the congregation began an outreach plan to to oppose it. Cindy Eyden, a member of St. Luke, suggested buying rainbow flags in bulk and distributing them to anyone in the community who was interested. What she didn’t know was that her idea would go viral.
Maureen Henderson, a fellow St. Luke congregant, was quick to follow Eyden’s lead. “They were selling these rainbow flags, only $2.50 for this full size, beautiful flag, and I looked at it, and bought a whole bunch of flags.” Henderson told herself “I’m going to go home to my neighborhood, and see, in our community, if one by one we can hand them out and then together start to address this issue.”
So off Henderson went to her home in Eden Prairie, a suburb of 60,000 filled with white-collar professionals, 94 percent of whom are Caucasian. That afternoon, she started going door to door with flags in hand. She was quickly joined by her neighbor Wendy Ivins. They took the picture-perfect neighborhood by storm, engaging their neighbors in respectful conversations. Soon, more and more rainbow flags began to appear in the sleepy cul de sacs, planted on large lots and hanging from wood porches.
Yep, I teared up.
July 11th, 2012
Now when I was brought up, I was taught that when someone gets married, you say congratulations (or, as the case may be, mazel tov!). But then, not everyone was brought up the way I was.
It looks like someone didn't get an invite.
On July 7, Barney Frank shocked the nation by becoming the first Congressman in history to enter into a homosexual “marriage.” It is just outrageous my friend.
The timing of this insult to American values is not coincidental. With Obama’s recent public endorsement of homosexual “marriage,” the Homosexual Lobby and their allies in government are pushing hard to pass the Offense of Marriage Act before this year is over.
The “wedding” was officiated by the governor of Massachusetts and attended by Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry — all key elected allies of the radical Homosexual Agenda.
The radical homosexuals and their agents are desperate to pass as many pieces of radical legislation as they can before the elections shake things up.
Frank’s “marriage” to Mr. Jim Ready was a calculated move to forward the homosexual “marriage” agenda while undermining the Defense of Marriage Act.
This will likely be the most dangerous year the American Family has ever faced. It is up to you and me to make sure that their dream of national homosexual “marriage” never comes true.
And, of course, you know the tagline:
P.S. Please prayerfully consider chipping in with a donation of $10 or more to help Public Advocate fight for traditional values.
July 11th, 2012
TODAY’S AGENDA:
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Bournemouth, UK; Bristol, UK; Charleston, SC; Glasgow, UK; Green Bay, WI; Munich, Germany; Peel, ON; Reading, PA; Rochester, NY; and Tacoma, WA.
AIDS Walk This Weekend: San Francisco, CA.
Other Celebrations This Weekend: Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo, Golden, CO; QFest Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA; Bear Week, Provincetown, MA.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Dorothy Wilde: 1895. She was born in London three months after her uncle Oscar Wilde’s arrest for homosexuality, and she inherited her uncle’s talents for witty conversation and charm, talents which held her in good stead in the salons of Paris between the wars. She first traveled to France in 1914 to serve as an ambulance driver during World War I, and it was during the war that she had an affair with another ambulance driver, Standard Oil heiress Marion “Joe” Carstairs, who after the war become a renowned speedboat racer (“the fastest woman on water”). Her longest relationship though began in 1927 and lasted until her death, with the American writer Natalie Clifford Barney. Dolly was a gifted storyteller and writer, but she never pursued a career in writing. Her drinking and addiction to heroin may have gotten in the way. In 1939, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but refused surgery. The next year when Germany invaded France, Dolly fled to London, where she died in 1941 of “causes unascertainable,” a possible allusion to a drug overdose or to alternative treatments she sought for her cancer.
Tab Hunter: 1931. Born Arthur Gelien in New York, he was given his stage name by his first agent. His good looks quickly made him a teen idol in the 1950s as he appeared in more than forty films throughout his career. That career was threatened however when, in 1955, Confidential magazine reported Hunter’s 1950 arrest in an innuendo-laden article, but Hunter’s studio-arranged “romances” with Natalie Woods and Debbie Reynolds succeeded in rescuing his reputation. In his 2005 memoir, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star
Yevgeny Kharitonov: 1941. Born in Novosibirsk, he embarked on a very brief career as an actor, but went from there to playwriting. Although none of his works were published in his lifetime by the Soviet press, he is now recognized as a founder of modern Russian gay literature. His sexuality, which was criminalized at the time, mirrored the Soviet experience in which the mere existence of a lot of people was grounds for state repression. . His dissident writing and his sexuality made him a double target, and he was placed under close surveillance by the KBG. When he was called to the KGB for his first “interview,” he fainted. When he died of a heart attack in 1981, many believed that his death was hastened over the pressure of official scrutiny. When he died, he was carrying a manuscript for “Under House Arrest,” which scattered and blew down the street when he collapsed. Other versions of the manuscript survived and was published several years after his death.
Kharitonov claimed his sexuality as a gift that gave him special insight into the human condition. In his brief gay manifesto, The Leaflet, Kharitonov compares the repression that gay people experienced in Russian society to the anti-Semetism experienced by Russia’s Jews. He also saw the artistry of Russia’s Jews and gays as being the product of that repression. “The best flower of our shallow people is called like no other to dance the dance of impossible love and to sing of it sweetly.”
Vito Russo: 1946. He was an LGBT activist and film historian, best known as the author of the 1981 book The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies
Esera Tuaolo: 1968. The Samoan from Hawaii was an NFL defensive lineman for nine years, beginning with the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. After a stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1997, he went to Atlanta, where he reached the Super Bowl in 1999. He ended his career the following season with the Carolina Panthers. In 2002, he announced that he is gay on HBO’s Real Sports, making him the third NFL player to come out (after David Kopay and Roy Simmons). In 2006, he released his autobiography, Alone in the Trenches: My Life As a Gay Man in the NFL
If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).
And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?
July 10th, 2012
… when 71% of Utah residents support either marriage or civil unions – according to data from Brigham Young University, as reported by Deseret News.
In the 2012 Utah survey, 43 percent of voters supported civil unions, and 28 percent supported same-sex marriage. Nationally, 24 percent favor civil unions and 38 percent favor same-sex marriage.
Using two election exit polls and two surveys of voter panels derived from those exit polls, the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy has collected data on attitudes toward gay marriage at four time points beginning in 2004. That year, 54 percent of Utah voters opposed any form of legal recognition for same-sex relationships. The number dropped to 37 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2010 and fell again to 29 percent in the new latest poll.
July 10th, 2012
Yes, it has been officially confirmed that FrankKameny is in the heavens. Rotating the sun between Mars and Jupiter, to be exact. (FoxNews)
When astronomer Gary Billings read Kameny’s obituary, he consulted with others in the astronomy world. They decided to submit a citation to the Paris-based International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., seeking to designate Minor Planet 40463 as Frankkameny.
It’s located in the asteroid belt, orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. The Kameny asteroid is visible through a telescope and was first discovered in 1999 using long-exposure photography.
July 10th, 2012
OneNewsNow, the American Family Association’s project to bring us the news that the mainstream press ignores (including all sorts or facts, numbers, studies, reports, quotes, and all sorts of information that you can’t find anywhere else) has finally taken notice of the National Organization for Marriage’s boycott of General Mills. And today they are sharing with America’s families that “General Mills earns spot on boycott list”.
And as a result, the listing of those who pledge to “look for substitutes” to General Mills brands has soared to new heights. Currently at 19,555 signatories on the DumpGeneralMills.com page – a full 398 more than it was on the 5th – it seems almost certain that this dump will pass 20,000 and become truly a giant dump, and as I’m sure we all know, it’s hard to ignore a giant dump.
July 10th, 2012
For those of you who haven’t been able to catch This Is What Love In Action Looks Like at a local film festival, or on Amazon, or Hulu… it’s now found a home on Netflix streaming here.
Also don’t forget to give it a positive review if you liked it. Netflix has a lot of garbage in their gay and lesbian film category and This Is What Love In Action Looks Like stands out above most of the other content in there.
July 10th, 2012
Kirk, at the age of 4 years and 6 months, just a few months before entering treatment at UCLA's Feminine Boy Project (Photo courtesy of the Murphy family)
I was just notified that I have been honored with the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) Award for Excellence in Online Journalism for last summer’s “What Are Little Boys Made Of?” That investigation told the story of four-year-old Kirk Andrew Murphy, who was treated for “pre-homosexuality” at UCLA by George Rekers in 1970. It affected the rest of his life. He committed suicide in 2003.
Anderson Cooper and his team were also honored for “Sissy Boy Experiments,” a three-part series which also covered Kirk’s story. Congrats to the entire CNN team. Sadly, much of the team has been laid off when CNN cut its investigative journalism bureau.
Also congratulations to Chris Geidner (a former Buckeye!) for winning the Sarah Petit LGBT Journalist of the Year Award. No one does legal reporting better. No one even comes close. Also congratulations to Steven Thrasher for winning 2012 NLGJA Journalist of the Year.
Click here to see the 2012 NLGJA Announcement after the jump.
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
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