Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 11:54 pm. 1 comment
In 1995 Rachel Maddow was the first openly gay or lesbian American to earn a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. Later, she broke into radio by winning a contest held by a small FM station seeking on-air talent. “I was crashing with friends in Massachusetts, working odd jobs, when they told me to try out. And they hired me on the spot. Radio came to me, I didn’t come to it.”
One of her odd jobs was doing yard work for accountant/artist Susan Mikula. They’ve been living together since Halloween 2000.
Beginning in 2004, Maddow hosted The Rachel Maddow Show for the national Air America network. She moved into television by substituting for Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. They gave her her own show in 2008, and she started attracting big ratings for her liberal punditry.
Recently she broke the story of Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, who is facing discharge from the Air Force because he’s gay.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:57 pm. 15 comments
Ian Halperin’s Michael Jackson: The Final Years reveals Michael Jackson’s gay relationships with a Hollywood waiter and a Las Vegas construction worker. The book has just been released in Canada and will soon hit the shelves in the US and UK. But there was another book, published 13 years ago, that detailed the strange habits and pedophilic desires of the King of Pop. Michael Jackson Was My Lover was written by investigative reporter Victor M. Gutierrez based in part on a diary kept by Jordan Chandler, the young man who was paid millions of dollars by Jackson after accusations of sexual abuse. The book is described on its back cover as:
Jordie Chandler reveals how he got to know Jackson, his trips to foreign countries with Jackson, what he saw when Jackson got naked in front of him, the sexual games he played with Jackson and his feelings towards Jackson. Also: The criminal investigation of Jackson, the civil lawsuit against Jackson, child actors that were also the star’s sexual partners, Jackson’s animal abuse at his private zoo, plus confidential documents never before published.
The credibility of Gutierrez’s book has never been seriously challenged, but he later lost a slander lawsuit filed by Jackson regarding other claims. In fact, his work was endorsed by journalist Diane Dimond of Hard Copy, the LAPD investigator in charge of the case against Jackson, and Jackson’s former personal asistant Orietta Murdock who blurbed, “Victor Gutierrez is a voice for all of us who know the truth.”
The book was suppressed in the United States, but it’s occasionally available on Ebay or from used book sellers at prices ranging from $150 to $600. Its 200 pages are filled with private details about Jackson and the people around him. Some of the information was later confirmed by police investigations and it can be expected that more will come out now that Jackson has died. For instance, stories are circulating today that the biological father of Jackson’s children by ex-wife Deborah Rowe was a man named Arnold Klein, who was Jackson’s dermatologist (and Rowe’s employer.) Michael Jackson Was My Lover was published more than a year before Deborah Rowe became a public figure as Jackson’s wife, yet she and Klein are prominent figures in the book. The book was also one of the first to note Jackson’s financial troubles, which came to occupy much of his attention toward the end of his life.
Michael Jackson is dead and millions of fans are mourning. His family are clearly devastated by the loss. He will be remembered as a musical prodigy, a genius, and one of the most charismatic entertainers ever. It’s important at this time, when his final legacy is being formed in the public mind, to keep a perspective on the type of man he was in private as well as the type of performer he was on stage.
In the interest of making sure Jackson’s history does not remain suppressed and lost in the fanfare, Gay News Daily will be featuring a series of articles over the next few days focused on answering the question Was Michael Jackson Gay?
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:55 am. 0 comments
It only took 52 years, but on Monday John Berry of the US Office of Personnel Management issued an official letter of apology to Frank Kameny. In 1957 Kameny was working as an astronomer in the Army Map service in Washington, DC, when he was fired for being gay. He received notice from the Civil Service Commission that the Government “does not hire homosexuals and will not permit their employment.” It was further noted that “the homosexual is automatically a security risk” and“frequently becomes a disruptive personnel factor within any organization.”
Kameny vigorously fought his termination, petitioning the Supreme Court with the first claim for civil rights on the basis of sexual orientation. The Court denied his petition. Shut out by the system, Kameny went on to become one of the leading activists for gay rights in the US, co-founding (with Jack Nichols) the Mattachine Society of Washington in 1957. In 1965 they launched the first public protests for gay rights, marching in front of the White House. Their picket signs are now preserved by the Smithsonian Institution. Kameny’s home in D.C., where much of the organizing occurred, is now an Historic Landmark.
Along with the Office of Personnel Management’s apology, on Monday Berry presented Kameny with its highest honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Award.
Here’s the full text of the letter.
Dear Dr. Kameny:
In what we know today was a shameful action, the United States Civil Service Commission in 1957 upheld your dismissal from your job solely on the basis of your sexual orientation. In one letter to you, an agency official wrote that the Government “does not hire homosexuals and will not permit their employment…” He went on to say that “the homosexual is automatically a security risk” and that he “frequently becomes a disruptive personnel factor within any organization.”
With the fervent passion of a true patriot, you did not resign yourself to your fate or quietly endure this wrong. With courage and strength, you fought back. And so today, I am writing to advise you that this policy, which was at odds with the bedrock principles underlying the merit-based civil service, has been repudiated by the United States Government, due in large part to your determination and life’s work, and to the thousands of Americans whose advocacy your words have inspired.
Thus, the civil service laws, rules and regulations now provide that it is illegal to discriminate against federal employees or applicants based on matters not related to their ability to perform their jobs, including their sexual orientation. Furthermore, I am happy to inform you that the Memorandum signed by President Obama on June 17, 2009 directs the Office of Personnel Management—the successor to the CSC–to issue guidance to all executive departments and agencies regarding their obligations to comply with these laws, rules, and regulations.
And by virtue of the authority vested in me as Director of the Office Of Personnel Management, it is my duty and great pleasure to inform you that I am adding my support, along with that of many other past Directors, for the repudiation of the reasoning of the 1957 finding by the United States Civil Service Commission to dismiss you from your job solely on the basis of your sexual orientation. Please accept our apology for the consequences of the previous policy of the United States government, and please accept the gratitude and appreciation of the United States Office of Personnel Management for the work you have done to fight discrimination and protect the merit-based civil service system.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:02 am. 0 comments
Donna Williams was diagnosed as psychotic at age two, but it wasn’t until she was in her 20s that she was found to be autistic. She has since written several best-selling books on autism from an insider’s perspective. In a recent American Chroncle article she describes herself as “a monogamous bisexual living in a straight marriage who generally feels like a gay man in a woman’s body.” Read more about this fascinating personality.
A new biography of the King of Pop, written by Ian Halperin, will include revelations about Michael Jackson’s private life. Halperin made headlines last December when he claimed Jackson had perhaps six months to live.
It will surprise few people to learn that Michael Jackson was gay. What may be surprising is Halperin’s contention that Jackson, while interested in younger men, had little sexual interest in the underage boys who were the subject of lawsuits, criminal trials, and multimillion dollar settlements during the pop star’s life. In an article in Britain’s Daily Mail, Halperin claims to have spoken with two men who made convincing claims of affairs with Jackson.
“It is clear to me that Michael was homosexual and that his taste was for young men, albeit not as young as Jordan Chandler or Gavin Arvizo. In the course of my investigations, I spoke to two of his gay lovers, one a Hollywood waiter, the other an aspiring actor. The waiter had remained friends, perhaps more, with the singer until his death last week. He had served Jackson at a restaurant, Jackson made his interest plain and the two slept together the following night. According to the waiter, Jackson fell in love.”
“Other witnesses speak of strings of young men visiting his house at all hours, even in the period of his decline. Some stayed overnight. When Jackson lived in Las Vegas, one of his closest aides told how he would sneak off to a ‘grungy, rat-infested’ motel – often dressed as a woman to disguise his identity – to meet a male construction worker he had fallen in love with.”
Halperin’s biography, The Final Years Of Michael Jackson, is due out in Canada later this week, and will be published soon in US and UK. His other books include Love & Death focusing on the last days of Kurt Cobain.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 9:13 am. 0 comments
Today, Wacko Right Wing Organization Family Research Council announced the launch of the Stop Kevin Jennings campaign. Kevin Jennings is a radical homosexual activist (homosexualist) whom President Barack Obama appointed to head the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. The campaign includes a full page ad in today’s DC Examiner newspaperand an online ad initiative.
As the former president of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, Mr. Jennings worked tirelessly to bring the homosexual agenda into our nation’s classrooms, even in grades as young as kindergarten.
Family Research Council is launching www.stopjennings.org, to educate the American people about how Jennings’ dangerous views make him unfit to protect our nation’s schoolchildren. The website will also serve as an action center for those who will join them in calling on the President Obama and Congress to stop this appointment.
Wacko groups like FRC strongly favor an Office of Safe and Gay Free Schools to replace the current office.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:42 am. 0 comments
Air Force vet Victor Fehrenbach will attend today’s White House event commemorating Stonewall hosted by President Obama. Fehrenbach, who is facing discharge after 18 years of service, under the still-in-effect “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” anti-gay policy, will be a guest of the Service Members Legal Defense Network. He will be in full uniform with nine medals. Hopefully he’ll have the opportunity to ask the president why his administration has allowed over 200 qualified military personnel to be discharged for being gay since his inauguration, despite his stated opposition to DADT. Search this site for more articles about Fehrenbach.
UPDATE: Lt. Col. Fehrehnbach spoke to President Obama about DADT on Monday. “I didn’t let him go,” said Feherenbach, who left the meeting assured that the days are numbered for the anti-gay policy, but that repeal may not come soon enough to save his own career. If forced to retire at the 18-year mark, Fehrenbach will not receive the benefits he would receive if he were allowed to complete 20 years of service.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:15 pm. 0 comments
Writer/Producer Carter Covington, 36, wrote for My Name is Earl and wrote/produced Greek before developing 10 Things I Hate About You, which premieres on July 7. Read More
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 9:07 am. 0 comments
A tattooed open lesbian is not what one thinks of as the typical leader of a Christian-based non-profit organization, who’s studying to become a minister. Eileen Gebbe, 35, breaks the mold and is changing minds and hearts in Champaign, Illinois.
Gebbe was raised in Portland in an environment of public service. Her mother Kristine was head of public health in Oregon, and President Bill Clinton’s AIDS czar in 1993. Eileen always felt a strong calling for religion, but left the church as a teenager, disaffected by anti-gay attitudes. As she told the News-Gazette, “It was really awful to see what we now call the religious right hating people in God’s language.” Conflicted about her sexuality, she got married to a man at age 19, but divorced several years later.
Gebbe studied at University of Illinois in Champaign, met a girl, Carla Barnwell, settled down with her in southern Illinois (they were married in Canada) and began studying for the ministry at Earlham School of Religion. She got involved with the Christian-based Habitat for Humanity, which builds housing for impoverished families, and was named Executive Director of the Champaign unit in 2006. She’s been open about her personal life but, as former board President Steve Clarkson says, “Her attitude and her Christian approach to her job and life in general are just so much in line with the mission of Habitat for Humanity.”
The Lutheran Church was not so accepting. When Gebbe sought ordination in Oregon she was told she was the first openly gay person to apply. A church official asked her whether she wanted her application back, or if it should be simply shredded. She’s now pursuing her calling in the United Church of Christ, which has been ordaining gay priests since the 1970s.
Eileen Gebbe at a groundbreaking. Photo by Dave Johnson
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 6:12 pm. 0 comments
The Independent on Sunday has published its annual “Pink List” of the most influential LGBT people in Britain, and Peter Mandelson is number one. He holds the positions of First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, and Lord President of the Council. It’s been a year of remarkable ascent for Mandelson who ranked #64 on last year’s list. As the Independent puts it, “he’s not only the most powerful gay man in Britain, but arguably the most powerful individual in the country.”
As one of the masterminds of “New Labour,” his skill at behind-the-scenes politics earned him the nickname “Prince of Darkness.” His knack for secrecy as he rose to prominence in the 1990s extended to (or perhaps from) his homosexuality. The BBC apparently had a policy in force that prevented mention of Mandelson’s sexuality on air. In October 1998, when he was already a minister in the cabinet, openly gay former MP Matthew Parris made a point to mention in an interview, “Peter Mandelson is certainly gay.” This opened the gates for the media to make sly references to his relationship with a Brazilian man, Reinaldo Avila da Silva. The long-running BBC TV panel show Have I Got News For You poked fun, as Ian Hislop said, “We’re not allowed to say that Peter Mandelson is a hom…eowner,” to which Paul Merton replied, “What’s wrong with gay people owning homes?” Soon after, Mandelson came out publicly and posed for photos with da Silva.
# 2 on this year’s Pink List is actor/activist Stephen Fry, and # 3 is Sir Ian McKellen. Others in the top ten are TV presenter David Starkey, musician Beth Ditto, playwright Alan Bennett, director Phyllida Lloyd, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw, poet Carol Ann Duffy, and Conservative party official Nick Boles. Last year’s number 1, journalist Evan Davis has dropped to #12 and #2 TV writer Russell Davies slipped to #14.
The Right Honourable the Lord Peter Mandelson, PC
Photo by Natalie Behring, copyright The World Economic Forum
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