Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 7:27 am. 1 comment
Yesterday, President Barack Obama signed a new law which includes “sexual orientation” in the list of federal hate crimes. It’s the first federal act to specifically benefit GLBT citizens, and some are calling this a landmark similar to African-American civil rights legislation of the 1960s.
Is this a sign of Obama sticking to what he’s promises? In my opinion, not quite. It’s a nice contrast, however, to the acts of President Bill Clinton, who signed DADT and DOMA, two glaring slaps in the face to our country’s dedication to equal rights, but it is a step in the right direction.
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 7:55 am. 0 comments
Nick Griffin, chairman of the extreme right wing whites-only British National Party, has confirmed that when he was 16 he was propositioned for gay sex by Martin Webster, who was then one of the leaders of the extreme far-right National Front. Griffin has denied the long-running sexual affair alleged by Webster, pointing out that if true then “we could put him [Webster] on the paedophile register.” Still, memories of 30 years ago seem to haunt Griffin, who says, “I don’t hate gay people at all. But I find the sight of grown men kissing in the street repulsive.” The BNP has dropped its former position that homosexuality should be outlawed.
Webster was drummed out of the NF in 1983, partly due to rumours of his homosexuality.
Major protests erupted earlier this week when Griffin appeared on the BBC show Question Time.
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 10:34 pm. 0 comments
Philip Schooner, a lifelong Republican and World War II veteran, was among those testifying at a hearing regarding Maine’s marriage equality bill earlier this year. Voters will decide the issue on November 3.
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 8:39 pm. 0 comments
Harvey Levin, the gay founder of celebrity tracking website TMZ.com, has told a meeting of industry executives that he intends to pursue legal actions against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) for “abuse.” It was recently reported in the Los Angeles Times that LASD had obtained a transcript of Levin’s home phone records, in pursuit of an investigation of leaks from the police to the media following the arrest of actor Mel Gibson for DUI in 2006. “We are going to stand up not just for us but because it is right thing to do,” Mr Levin said. “It is outrageous what law enforcement has done here. I can only imagine the Pandora’s Box this is going to open up to find out what else has happened.”
Authorities were embarrassed when TMZ reported that, following his arrest, Gibson launched into a profane and anti-semitic rant. Initially, the police report had been suppressed by high-ranking officers, who reported the arrest had occurred “without incident.” Shortly later, the details were leaked to TMZ revealing Gibson had been unruly, attempted escape, and repeatedly threatened the arresting officers. LASD then tried to find out which of their officers had been talking to the press. They found a judge willing to sign off on their secret warrant to spy on Levin.
Legal experts point out that California’s constitution protects reporters from revealing their sources, and that any search of Levin’s phone records would have been illegal.
“We are going to stand up not just for us but because it is right thing to do,” Mr Levin declared in a speech to industry executives this week. “It is outrageous what law enforcement has done here. I can only imagine the Pandora’s Box this is going to open up to find out what else has happened.”
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 7:17 am. 0 comments
Actress/Singer Lindsay Lohan has replied to speculation that she was “all over” actor/singer/trustfundbaby Baltahzar Getty during a recent encounter at Hollywood club Voyeur. Gossip Cop caught up with Lohan in New York and elicited the denial from Lohan, who said the rumor is “not true” though she did talk to Getty that night when they “met for the first time.”
In conclusion, Lohan pointed out the obvious: “You think I would do that to Sam [DJ Samantha Ronson]? I love her.”
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 8:35 am. 0 comments
P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center, in Long Island City, is presenting a large-scale wall installation by Brooklyn-based queer artist Chitra Ganesh. Ganesh’s new wall piece, The Silhouette Returns (2009), is on view in the P.S.1 lobby from October 1, 2009 through April 5, 2010. Read More.
Posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago at 8:52 am. 0 comments
With Moscow’s homophobic mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, standing by in a beret, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov unveiled a statue of gay US poet Walt Whitman at Moscow State University today. The homosexual content of Whitman’s life and work was confined to the closet for the occcasion.
Luzhkov is notorious for his verbal attacks and actions against gays and lesbians during his tenure as mayor of Moscow. He’s used his authority to ban gay pride parades and events. In 2007 he made the news worldwide with his statement, “Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which cannot be called anything other than satanic. [...] We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future.” He blames Western advocacy groups for promoting homosexuality in Mother Russia: “We think that destructive sects and propaganda of same-sex love are inadmissible.”
With his presence at today’s unveiling, Luzhkov has unwittingly made a major contribution to those “propaganda” efforts.
Walt Whitman is regarded as one of the greatest poets, and a particularly American one. Some of his work is overtly homoerotic. When Whitman published the first edition of his book of poems, Leaves of Grass, it was widely condemned as obscene. Secretary of the Interior James Harlan, calling the collection “very offensive,” had Whitman terminated from his government job. The Boston D.A. issued his opinion that the work was “obscene litertature,” and a number of bookstores refused to carry it. Early critic Rufus Griswold used a Latin phrase to accuse Whitman of being homosexual.
Since the second half of the nineteenth century, gay men around the world have found special inspiration in Whitman’s work. Many identify strongly with the passions Whitman expressed about his admiration of the male form and personality. They also could relate to the feelings of alienation from society he sometimes expressed.
In 1884 Whitman met 12-year-old Bill Duckett, and they lived together from 1885-1886.
Whitman long claimed to have a black female paramour in New Orleans, and six illegitimate children. This story about the mistress in New Orleans has led historians on many a wild goose chase. Whitman’s Louisiana lover was in fact a man named Jean Granouille, the son of a Huguenot preacher and a slave, 26 years old when he met Whitman.
When he died, the author of Leaves of Grass left his prized silver watch “with my love” to his former lover, trolley-car conductor Peter Doyle. Interviewed in 1895, Doyle said, “We were familiar at once—I put my hand on his knee—we understood. He did not get out at the end of the trip—in fact he went all the way back with me.
At today’s unveiling, no mention was made of the fact that Whitman is a gay icon.
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