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, 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.
South Carolina, one of the reddest of red states, has long been known for the flamboyance of its political life. Recent scandals surrounding the governor, Mark Sanford, and his Argentinian mistress are distinguished mostly by his spectacular disappearance for five days in Buenos Aires, which has even fellow Republicans calling for his impeachment. If Sanford leaves office, he would be succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer. Rumors have been swirling about whether Bauer himself might be gay, and things are coming to a head in Mike Rogers’ well known outing blog blogactive.com.
Rogers claims a 100% accuracy rate with somewhat more authority than others who make similar claims, like Rush Limbaugh. He says he’s interviewed four reliable sources who report Bauer is gay. This is pertinent because Bauer has tended to present himself as a right-wing conservative christian, supporting one of the more superficially homophobic of the Republican candidates for president, Mike Huckabee.
Bauer might justify staying in the closet in order to be electable in his home state. That rationale lost some of its credibility last year, when an openly gay, progressive woman came within two points of winning a seat in the US Congress. Linda Kettner was running against Republican Henry Brown, who was the incumbent in a heavily Republican district. Kettner discovered that S.C. voters did not care about her sexual orientation, but they did appreciate her honesty.
In a post-election interview, with firedoglake.com, Kettner had some interesting things to say about her home state. “We have more gay people serving in South Carolina than probably in anyplace in the United States; they’re just not out of the closet. We have an awful lot of people in the closet– Lindsey Graham, Glenn McConnell who’s our Senate president pro tem, our Lt Governor.”
In this video, US Congressman Barney Frank responds to a woman with a photo of President Obama defaced with a Hitler-style moustache.
Rush Limbaugh responded with a juvenile homophobic joke, “But the killer for me was, here’s Barney Frank [asking] ‘what planet do you live on’ to this woman. Isn’t it an established fact that Barney Frank himself lives around Uranus?”
Gay rights have been the hot-button issue in India over the past few weeks, since the Delhi High Court threw out the colonial era laws banning homosexuality. Celebrities, including long-time gay rights activist Celina Jaitley have voiced support for the court ruling.
Recently popular television personality Swami Baba Ramdev jumped into the fray claiming that yoga practice could cure homosexuality. Ramdev has made similar claims in the past regarding cures for AIDS, cancer, and other diseases. The yoga maestro said,“We invite all the gay people to come to our ashram in a group of 10 to 50 for nine months and like a mother we will deliver them like new born babies devoid of homosexuality with the practice of dhyan and pranayam. We have cured many people who had come to us and now they are happily married.” Ramdev claims homosexuality is a western contamination of Indian culture, but the opposite is true as the laws banning homosexuality were introduced by the British as part of colonial rule.
Jaitley responded, calling Ramdev’s claims, “Ridiculous. With all due respects to Baba Ramdev he may have the so called ‘cure’ but the point is LGBT community does NOT see homosexuality as a disease. No one is interested in buying this over-the-counter prescription for curing what is not a disease at all . It is who they are. They are not interfering in anyone’s life or religion but unfortunately everyone wants to interfere in theirs and tell them how they should eat, sleep and have sex.”
Gay Indian Prince Mavendra Gohil has challenged Ramdev to cure him, stating “I have been doing yoga for the last 10 years, but I haven’t turned straight. The only thing yoga has given me is that it has made me healthier and more confident.” Referring to self-proclaimed doctors like Ramdev, Gohil said, “They should stop making such baseless claims. Such absurd claims do a disservice to society.”
The 44-year-old prince made headlines a couple years ago when he came out and was disowned by his royal family. He has since become a leading gay rights activist.
On the morning of June 1, 2009, in coordination with the Milwaukee post office diversity team, the local LGBT community center set up a display in the downtown post office lobby celebrating gay history as part of Gay Pride Month as proclaimed by President Obama. A few hours later, post office spokesperson Marge Oehlke took it upon herself to summarily remove the display, saying “It did not fit our qualifications.”
The chairman of the diversity team, Dale J. Shuster quit the team in protest. Later statements by Oehlke only confused the situation, first stating there were no customer complaints, then saying there were. Additional “clarifications” further muddied the waters. Search Gay News Daily for “Milwaukee” for more stories on this issue.
On July 20, Maggie Cage, executive director of the LGBT center, met with the postmaster, Charles Miller, demanding an explanation and an apology. On July 29, Miller responded, “I do apologize for the inconvenience, embarrassment and confusion caused to you, your members and the LGBT community, regarding our internal processes in which proper official procedures were not utilized as specified in guidelines for lobby displays and promotions….” In his letter, the postmaster offers to “create a pictorial postmark cancellation to commemorate Pridefest 2010 in Milwaukee.” He also encouraged members of the community to work on a national level for a stamp honoring gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk. Maggi Cage responded, “CenterLink, the national association of LGBT Community Centers, is very excited about working at a national level with all the LGBT Community Centers on the Harvey Milk stamp idea.”
Cage stated “I see this as a win-win situation for the Milwaukee LGBT Community”, and that she looks forward to collaborating with the Postmaster in a positive way in the near future.
The sailor accused of murdering gay seaman August Provost has been found dead in his cell at Camp Pendleton in California. Petty Officer Jonathan Campos had been charged with murder in the June 30 shooting of Provost, who was killed while on sentry duty at the base. Provost’s body was set on fire at his guard post after he was killed.
Campos apparently committed suicide and authorities have reported his death was due to asphyxiation.
Military investigators have said Provost’s sexuality was not a factor in his slaying, but his family has been pressing for answers. Provost had been harassed by fellow sailors for being gay. Provost’s aunt Rose Roy believes Provost may have been killed to keep him from outing Campos. “This guy went the extra mile to make sure that my nephew would never be able to speak about his [the killer’s] sexuality. … My nephew died for reasons other than what the military is saying.”
The “ex-gay” movement claims homosexuality can be cured, usually by religious means. One of their prominent spokesmen, Matthew C. Manning, is the co-founder, with his wife Christa, of Lighthouse World Evangelism, Inc. offering “counseling services” based in San Francisco. Manning first came to public notice when he spoke from the audience of the Roseanne show, claiming that God delivered him from homosexuality and healed him of HIV/AIDS to boot. He’s since made the rounds of religious television talk shows including The Joni Show andPat Robertson’s 700 Club.
A recent report on Ex-Gay Watch, a site that monitors the ex-gay movement, documents several incidents that might indicate the ex-gay pastor is not so ex, including a 2005 arrest, charging that “he did willfullly and unlawfully touch an intimate part of JOHN DOE.” Manning pleaded “no contest” and was ordered to stay away from the victim (reportedly a straight 22-year-old man) and also to no longer frequent the 24 Hour Fitness center where the alleged incident occurred.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 10:22 am. 0 comments
The gay pride display installed at the downtown Milwaukee post office on June 1, then hastily evicted four hours later (search this site for “Milwaukee”) has been given a pride of place in City Hall. Mayor Tom Barrett spoke as the display was unveiled. Fox News Video
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