Rites XXX

I'm there.

Romney

Romney:

We believe that every single human being is a child of God – we are all part of the human family. The conviction of the inherent and inalienable worth of every life is still the most revolutionary political proposition ever advanced. John Adams put it that we are ‘thrown into the world all equal and alike.

And yet his campaign is based on denying rights to fags, dykes, the transgendered, and immigrants.

Return to the Circuit

My Year without the Circuit is almost over. Love Fest was fun but more of a lark, Volcano was regrettable (and yes I'm still bitter), and I miss that feeling you only get at 5am when you've been dancing all night & still have hours to go before the sun comes up.

It looks like I'll be able to hit a couple spots on the Circuit in 2008. Wish it was now, but I'll have to be patient. I'm being overly ambitious, & trying to work in Black Party in New York and White Party in Palm Springs. I haven't done either, I want to do both, but ... they're only three weeks apart & it would be silly to blow my wad & all my serotonin for the year in one month.

I change my mind on the best plan every thirty minutes. Now I'm thinking fly to SF the week before White Party, visit Nino & Paulo, then drive down to LA, visit Gary & Papi, pick up Drew, then drive into the desert.

Which, now that I type it out, sounds like a better plan. I was trying to figure out how to work Mexico or Paris into a New York trip, but I'd have to have a lot more dough than I actually have to pull that off.

In related news, my friend Bugie (left) - of Miami, but Wai`anae born and raised - just got his first big gig: spinning White Gold at Miami's White Party this November. Good luck to him, wish I was there, and I hope this is the first step on his road to international stardom! His write-up definitely works [DJ Bugie ... has established himself as an integral part of the South Beach music scene. Bugie has a dark, throbbing, sexually-charged tribal beat and an unmistakable style].

I'm not quite sure what his 'unmistakable style' is, though. I have a dozen of his cd's, and what I like is each one is unique - though he loves his hard beats & minimal vocals - and that he can change his styles to fit the mood of a party. It's a nice change from other dj's who will play the same set whether it's an after-hours or a Sunday picnic.

Drew's also been tempting me with a fall Cruise. Bad Drew! I mean, Good Drew! It's a possibility ... but the dates are tricky. Moloka`i Hoe is October 12 - it's already in my calendar & that obviously takes priority. And xxx is supposed to be making fall wedding plans & he better frakkin' hurry up and give the chick the ring & set a date. Pronto. The fantasy now will be that XXX will set his wedding date after the Hoe, and Atlantis will set a Cruise for the weekend after, and I'll be able to do both with two weeks off.

Fat chance of that, really.

And if the wedding is the week of the Hoe, or the week before ... I'll just cry.

Dance when you're broken open; Dance, when you've torn the bandage off
Dance in the middle of fighting
Dance in your blood
Dance when you're perfectly free.
Struck, the dancer hears a tambourine inside her
Like a wave crests into foam at the very top begins.
Maybe you don't hear that tambourine or the tree leaves clapping time
Close the ears on your head , listen mostly to lies and cynical jokes.;
There are other things to see, and hear: Music. A brilliant city inside your soul.

Jelaluddin Rumi

Three Cabelleros

A Jihad for Love

... keep in mind that I'm a non-believer who considers it hubris for any man to claim an exclusive knowledge of Truth ...

There are a handful of internet forums I pop in and out of - Television without Pity to dissect the latest reality shows, Tribe for the cooking timps and recipe exchanges, Thorn Tree for my wanderlust, and Queerty to keep up with the gay world at large.

The last one has been getting ugly of late. There's tons of hatred and unalloyed racism coming out of the site. Not from the moderators; I've talked with them via email, and they're decent - this is all coming from the other posters. I used to think that gay people might be more enlightened, more aware of the dynamics of bigotry and hate. These days I'm not so sure. Too many of our brothers have used the hate flowing in our direction as a template upon which to base their own hate of others.

The latest attacks are coming from this creature. He's the "artist" who burned a Qu`ran given to him by the Queen of Jordan.

Queerty had a posting on A Jihad for Love (left), a documentary on gay muslims in twelve different countries. It looks like an important film.

The artist was having none of it. His words, verbatim:

Why are their no Gay muslims at any gay pride march?? Bunch of cowards? There is no gay liberation in the Muslim community. This film is propaganda and wishful thinking, like a travel brochure. Michael Lucas is the voice of reason and judges Islam for what it is, out to take over the world and destroy those who do not take up the words of Mohammed and the Koran. 9/11 happened because of Mohammed, and his words that said Infidels should be put in a pile and burned. Wake up. Read Carmen Bin Laden’s book. You will see the real purpose of Islam.

You'd think I'd know enough by now not to feed the trolls. I'm still torn on when it's best to let things slide, and when it's best to confront. These days I'm leaning towards confrontation. Too many crimes are committed when we're silent. My rebuttal, in it's entirety:

Here we go again.
1. I’ve seen gay muslims at every Pride event I’ve been to.
2. There are gay rights movements in Turkey, Indonesia, Lebanon, and - shockingly - Iraq.

It seems so simple, but that's all it took for the artist to aim his bile in my direction.

Now I've had significant debates with people on Queerty. The only time it's gotten personal is when I've written some variation on not all black folk are homophobic or not all Muslims are terrorists. And every single time I do, the OP comes back cussing and spitting and making personal attacks.

And the attacks come, without fail, from atheists who claim that religion is the root of all hate. They hate Muslims because Islam hates us, or they hate black people because all Black churches are homophobic. They hate with a greater passion than those religious people they accuse of being full of hate do.

Not a one ever sees the irony.

Some of you are giving the rest of us infidels a bad name. I can not-believe, and be aware of history's crimes, and yet still respect the art, poetry, and beauty behind religion. I am aware of the crimes committed in all the names of god. And it's my belief that these arise from someplace dark and imperfect inside, and not from some external book. I cannot think of a single civilization that has not committed great crimes.

It's easier for me to respect the misogynist who hates everyone than these selective-haters who nurture and hone their anger at a few chosen groups.

Scandal! Again

I'm experimenting with new software on this one - clipmarks. It's supposed to allow you to tag websites and link to them on your blog.

And this is a great place to start - a gay Republican triple murder-suicide in Florida, with ties to NC Rep Patrick McHenry. It's still breaking news on the underground; we'll see if it crosses over topside anytime soon.

clipped from signorile2003.blogspot.com Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend is coming on the show today at 3:30 ET to talk about what surely should be the next big Republican scandal, and yes, it involves a whole cast of creepy closeted and less-than-closeted gay Republicans working against their own people, and connects to at least one member of Congress, Republican North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry, whose sexual orientation has been questioned for some time now, and who is pictured here. The initial story that raies a slew of questions and connections surrounds a murder-suicide and is astounding, and still very much developing. Go and read all of the various strands of this one on Pam's site. As Pam says, we're going to try to untangle this on the show. We all also need to make sure the news gets out, and make sure there are investigations of this.

The Roy Cohn Society

These are all from Mike Roger's blog ... 33 gay politicians who vote or act against gay rights.
He broke the stories on most of these fellas.
He promises that he'll be outing a few more Congressmen, all Republicans, in the next coming months.

US Representatives
Rep. Ed Schrock (VA)
Rep. David Drier (CA)
Rep. James McCrery (LA)
Rep. Mark Foley (FL)

US Senators
Sen Larry Craig (ID)

Senior GOP Staff
Jay Timmons, NRSC
Dan Gurley, RNC
Jay Banning, RNC
Brian Walton, NRSC, RNC

Senior Senate Staffers
Robert Traynham, Santorum
Jonathan Tolman, Inhofe
Kirk Fordham, Martinez
Dirk Smith, Lott
John Reid, Allen
Paul Unger, Allen
Linus Catignani, Frist

Senior House Staffers
Jim Conzelman, Oxley
Lee Cohen, Hart
Robert O'Conner, King
Pete Meachum, Brown-Waite

Bush Staff
Israel Hernandez
Jeff Berkowitz

Local Officials
Vincent Gentile, NYC
Helene Weinstein, NYS Assembly

The rest...
Ed Koch, NYC Mayor
Jennifer Helms-Knox, Judge
Armstrong Williams, Radio host
Matt Drudge, Headline writer
Steve Kreseski, MD Gov.
Chip DiPaula, MD Gov.
Lee LaHaye, CWA
Richard Grennell, U.N.
John Schlafley, Eagle Forum

Sexual Identity

The discussion on the last post has been great (which is a relief - the forums over the past couple weeks have been overwhelmed by fighting queens). My favorite comes from eagledancer4444. I don't know who he is, but I love the way he writes and thinks. Brah, if you're ever in Hawai`i, dinner is on me.

I was involved pretty much from the start with HIV/AIDS…in fact two of my first patients were diagnosed with “GRID,” the term that was being used before AIDS was coined. I worked with a few national (and later international) prevention and treatment projects, and presented on multicultural aspects of sexuality as well as gender identity. To my surprise, after my first presentations, I would have a few participants who came up to me, who said, I never really felt I was gay, but I didn’t know of any other place to go than the gay community.

I remember very well some of the quite bitter “fights” that were going on at that time. M2M or MSM were suggested because one of the most difficult subgroups of the population to reach are men who are sexually active with men, but don’t identify as gay, since they won’t pick up gay newspapers (lol—they won’t pick up anything labeled as “gay” other than a gay man), or hit gay bars where condoms and prevention material would be available. This was one of the motivations for the creation of such terminology, along with “bisexual behavior,” even if there was no self-identification with bisexuality as an identity.

There is, for many, an “evolution” or developmental journey (i.e. the Cass Model) where one starts off knowing one is “different,” but not really knowing all that means, other than a general message “different is bad.” I suspect a lot of you didn’t shout out your sexual orientation while in high school but “tried it on for size” so to speak, until you were comfortable with it. That’s why at the University where I was teaching, there was a student support group entitled, I don’t think I’m gay, but I know I’m not straight… To walk into a support group labeled GBTLQ means you’ve already accepted a label. Not everyone is there yet. One of the real “sea changes,” we’re seeing is an increasingly younger average age for coming out, which according to a 2001 publication, is now 15. I feel there’s a “generational” issue here of people like Craig, who became sexually active pre-internet (and pre-feminist, for that matter), where sexual initiation involved very specific, male only situations, such as rest rooms.

As I mentioned, I was surprised at the hostility I (and others) faced when we tried to explain to other researchers and prevention specialists, “gay” was not sufficient as a category in working within the “real world.” Many of the most vocal opponents were white gay men who had become active in the 1970s, for whom gay was a strived for identity that wasn’t just about the gender of a sexual partner, but also included self-esteem, status, and a way of confronting earlier shame, both internal and societal. Any suggestion of expanding the categories of outreach were met with accusations of “denial,” and internalized homophobia about not being able to “accept” the “true” identity of being gay.

As someone who teaches cross-cultural sexuality, this response was frustrating (and very ethnocentric), but I also felt M2M or MSM was also too limiting. In a number of cultures, there’s a concept of more than 2 genders, so asking a man, Have you ever had sex with another man? (MSM)—will not work well if the man being asked has had sex with someone his community does not identify as a “man.” In one article on Latino sexuality, the author suggested the answer would differ if you asked, Have you ever had sex with a man who was not a man? A soft man? A man who was a woman?

The question determines the answer. In a study with African-American males in L.A., when asked if they had ever had sex with another man, the answer across the board was “No.” But when the same men were asked, When was the last time you popped a sissy?” the response was very different.

Which, of course, leads us back to the actual definition of “sex.” When President Clinton said, I did not have sexual relations with that woman, we had done a research project with mid-western adults before the Clinton incident. The majority of those interviewed would have agreed with Clinton. They did not identify oral sex as “real sex.” Only penile/vaginal penetration was understood as “real sex.” This is why a few years ago, about one fourth of 10,000 adolescent females responding to an interview had engaged in oral sex, but nearly 80 percent of them considered themselves to be virgins. One of the reasons it’s so hard to reach the married men at rest rooms and public parks doing the MSM thing, is the reality they don’t classify what they are doing is “cheating” because it would only be “cheating” if they were “doing it” with a woman, and the belief what they are doing isn’t “real sex,” because the only “real sex” involves a penis and a vagina.

Simply dismissing this as “denial” on the part of the individual doesn’t make effective impact on HIV (or other STDs) from a public health level. It also doesn’t recognize other cultures may use different categories. For example, in some non-Western cultures, the gender of your partner has no bearing on your sexual orientation. As long as you are in the “active” or “insertive” role, you (and your community) will still recognize you as heterosexual. This was the hardest thing to get across to people around a discussion table…if you’re not from that community, frankly “you don’t get to vote.” You can tell them they are “wrong, bad, stupid or crazy” to think the way they do, but frankly, they’re used to being told that from the American Dominant Culture. A direct attack tends to make them hold even more tightly to their established belief system.

By the way—this is the reason reporters hate interviewing a lot of researchers and scientists who don’t provide “neat” sound bites. Asking if Craig or the others are “really gay,” doesn’t encourage an easy answer, because there isn’t a consensus of what “gay” means. Even Freud referred to “homosexualities.” I think it’s obvious that Craig and his brethren are in some sort of different classification than people who’ve posted on this topic who themselves identify as gay or queer, if nothing other than a category of “gay-impaired.”

The End of the Culture Wars?

There've been some great discussions lately on Queerty about the recent rash of Cultural Warriors getting busted for getting it on. A few are even suggesting that this might mark the end of both the cultural wars and the artificial duality we've insisted on in the West between gay and straight.

Selections from their original article:

During his post-scandal statement yesterday, Senator Larry Craig gave the media a perfect soundbyte, I am not gay. I have never been gay. No doubt news heads have heard those nine words countless of times since yesterday afternoon. No doubt you will hear them again.

I am not gay. I have never been gay. Those nine words will be etched as hard and as deep as former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey’s famous five: I am a gay American.

Craig’s nine words will define the end of his culture warrior career. And for once he may not by lying. And, by some twist of political fate, Craig may be helping so-called “sexual deviants”.

Over an hour before Craig blasted the Idaho Newstatesman and again pleaded his heterosexuality, CNN’s Kyra Phillips interviewed Atlanta police Major Darryl Tolleson. An Atlanta Major, Tolleson’s arrested more the forty men fishing for sex in Atlanta’s famously cruisey airport.

During her chat with Tolleso, Phillips touched upon an issue that’s starting to be raised more and more: are public sex “offenders” necessarily gay. The gay media - including ourselves - have played up Craig’s alleged queerness. In fact, the gay media - namely: Mike Rogers - started the ball rolling on this case. Craig’s case, however, is not implicitly “gay”. It’s queer, to be sure, but not necessarily “gay”.

Of the the forty men Tolleso has arrested, he says, the majority are family men. We posted the video and transcript earlier, but here’s the money quote:

…A good majority of these men do have families. And that’s been a little bit shocking to us. You would think that it would be more of a gay issue. But overwhelmingly more and more we’re seeing that these are people with families.

Some of those arrested may qualify as closeted queers, but it’s certainly likely not all of them are motivated solely by shame. They may have sex with men, but it doesn’t make these men “gay”.

...

Our carnal comprehension comes from the laboratory, not the bedroom or the battle field. For years newspapers and medical papers referred to gays as “homosexuals”. Jim Naugle aside, the term’s fallen out of politically correct behavior. It’s archaic, yes, but still speaks volumes about how Americans - and other Western nationals - deal with men who have sex with men.

To completely understand “down-low” men, Westerners have adopted a definitively indefinite definition. We’ve coined a collection of six words: “Men Who Have Sex With Men”. The term first appeared in the early 1990s, particularly as a way to address HIV infections among men who don’t identify as “homosexual”. That population’s long been closeted - and not in a gay way.

Yes, Oprah has specials on such men, health workers use it daily, politicos use it delicately, but MSM - not to be confused with mainstream media - remain largely unexamined. Larry Craig, however, may change all that.

Last night, at 9pm, about 4-and-a-half hours after Craig’s delivered those already infamous nine words, anther Larry, Larry King, hosted a panel to discuss the political and cultural ramifications of the scandal. Among his guests, King welcomed sexpert Dr. Drew Pinsky. During the course of their conversation, Pinsky brought up MSM, saying:

There is a separate category, which is men who have sex with men. And so people can genuinely get up and say I’m not gay but I’m still one of these people that have sex with men.

The distinction came up on a number of other shows. By raising awareness of MSM, Craig’s inadvertently dismantling America’s tenacious sexual distinctions. Gay and straight no longer exist. We’ve got a new, clinical sexual class. The scientific rationale used to oppress gays will now help them by expanding our nation’s homo horizons.

Our clinical culture, our culture which operates within doctor-approved boundaries, created an entirely new sexual category. With more exposure, MSM may pave actually help break down the sexual binarism. If more people understand - and, more importantly, accept - that some men have sex with men, for whatever reason, America may be freed of limiting labels. The political implications are innumerable.

Sexuality, which has been used as a political tool, becomes impotent when citizens and gadflies finally realize they’ve been going about the “Culture Wars” all wrong. It’s never been black-and-white. Sexuality can be colorful, but it’s primarily gray. Even if Americans don’t come to accept - or even understand - MSM, Cultural Warrior Craig’s nine words nailed the Culture War coffin closed.

Craig belonged to a political elite so fascinated by sexual policing, they built an entire platform around the subject. For decades the Moral Majority, Christian Voice and other “Values” voting groups have shaped the Republican agenda. Over the last year, however, that party’s been rocked by a number of sex scandals, including four “gay-tinged” tales.

We’ve got Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, Bob Allen and Larry Craig: all men who based their political careers on family values, values the national party - and its members - embraced. These people found political salvation through sexual segregation. As The Nation’s Richard Kim wrote in his Craig-related piece:

[This anti-gay GOP culture led] Bob Allen to the stunning and revealing calculation that it would be better to be seen in the public eye as an avowed racist than as someone who likes to have sex with men sometimes.

Voters will not stand for hypocrisy. Nor should they. As Craig deals with the personal fall out of his folly, the Republican party will have no choice but to - cough, cough - change course.

Famed political analyst James Carville, who also appeared on last night’s Larry King, had this to say about the Craig ramifications:

I hope the good that comes out of this is that everybody calls a truce in this stupid culture war and goes to talking about things that really matter and leave these people alone.

Carville and Republican strategist Michelle Laxalt both lamented the moralists take over of the Republican party, a party which once respected individual liberty - though not necessarily “lifestyles”. With Craig and others’ respective fuck-ups, the Culture Warriors have no choice but to retreat.

Their pride, shame and arrogance smothered the fire they started.

Sexual Cleansing

This is the text of a speech that Ali Hili, the Middle Eastern spokesperson for Outrage! gave to the Faith, Homophobia and Human Rights conference in London on Saturday 17 February 2007. More details at Iraqi LGBT.

I speak on behalf of Iraqi LGBT – an underground network of LGBT activists that we have established inside Iraq.

Our members – and all Iraqi LGBTs - are at daily risk of execution by the Shia death squads of the Badr and Sadr militias.

Members of these militias have infiltrated the Iraqi police and are abusing their police authority to pursue a plan to eliminate all homosexuals in Iraq.

This is happening with the collusion of key ministers in the Iraqi government.

The Badr and Sadr militias are the armed wings of the two main Shia parties that control the government of Iraq.

These governing parties – particularly the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq - are complicit in the widespread execution of Iraqi LGBTs.

What is happening today in Iraq is one of the most organized and systematic sexual cleansings in the history of the world.

Attacks have escalated into unprecedented levels of homophobic violence, including targeted assassinations.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) has recently, for the first time, confirmed that there are organised campaigns to kill gays in Iraq. These killings are taking place on the order of Iraq’s Shia leaders.

The UNAMI Human Rights Office recently reported that it was “alerted to the existence of religious courts, supervised by clerics, where alleged homosexuals would be 'tried,' 'sentenced' to death, and then executed.”

One of the self-appointed religious judges in Sadr City believes that homosexuality is on the wane in Iraq. “Most [gays] have been killed and others have fled,” he said, insisting that the religious courts have “a lot to be proud of. We now represent a society that asked us to protect it not only from thieves but also from these [bad] deeds [same-sex relationships]."

Iraq's government strongly criticized the UNAMI report on human rights abuses; condemning it for discussing issues that are considered taboo in Iraqi society, such as homosexuality, and the systematic murder of LGBTs.

“There was information in the report that we cannot accept here in Iraq. The report, for example, spoke about the phenomenon of homosexuality and giving them their rights," said Mr al-Dabbagh (a spokesperson for the Iraqi regime). "Such statements are not suitable to the Iraqi society. This is rejected. They (the UN) should respect the values and traditions here in Iraq.”

I will give you just one example of the homophobic terror Iraqi LGBTs are facing.

Five activists in Baghdad were discovered in a safe house and abducted at gunpoint on 9 November last year. Nothing has been heard of them since then. It is feared that death squads operating within the Iraqi police may have murdered them.

The kidnapped men all were members of our group Iraqi LGBT.

For the previous few months these activists had been documenting the killing of lesbians and gays, and relaying details of homophobic executions to our office in London. I have no doubt that they were targeted – not just because they were gay – but also to stop them exposing to the outside world the anti-gay pogrom that is happening in Iraq today.

The Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is the world leader of Shia Muslims, clearly states that gays and lesbians should be executed.

This gives direct religious sanction to the murder of LGBTs by the Badr and Sadr death squads. Sistani is giving the killers divine authority.

In spite of the world unity against the unlawful war on Iraq, the United States and its allies, including the government of the United Kingdom, chose to go ahead with the invasion of Iraq and cause the deaths of so many innocent lives.

The everyday loss of innocent lives in Iraq does not seem to matter to the western media today, especially when the victims are minorities like LGBTs.

The urgency now is to protect LGBT people in Iraq. We need action by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and by other international aid agencies and human right organisations.

The UNHCR is failing to support Iraqi LGBTs who have fled to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It should be providing them with shelter and subsistence. It should be giving them travel documents, so they can seek refuge in safe western countries. So far, this is not happening.

The West, which caused much the current chaos in Iraq, should be giving refuge to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Iraqis. Right now, the US and Britain are turning down asylum claims by Iraqi LGBTs.

We need funding to enable our activists inside Iraq to continue to document the killings, acquire more safe houses, and to assist LGBTs to escape to neighbouring countries.

We are working closely with OutRage!. Please send a donation payable to OutRage!, with a cover note stating that it is “For Iraqi LGBT”.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Peter Tatchell and OutRage! for all the help that they have provided Iraqi LGBT so far.

Finally, we Iraqi LGBTs will not allow ourselves to exterminated liked rats. We are determined to fight for our rights in the new Iraq. With your help, we can defy the religious fundamentalists and win our place in a free and democratic nation.

Punk of the Day

I listen to the guy, and all I can think is the Simpson's episode where Garrison Keilor is on tv & Homer is banging on the side of the box yelling Stupid TV! Be more funny!

So it's always nice when people I don't like give me ammunition to shoot them with. This morning, it's Mr. Keillor in Salon ...

The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men -- sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in for flamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control. Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants and black polka-dot shirts. That's for the kids. It's their show.

It's kind of ugly, and I don't even know where to start. I don't know a single gay person who fits this description. Keillor creates a stereotype, or borrows one from tv, and then states that gay men need to stop conforming to a false stereotype in order to be accepted.

Now. I saw the link on TMZ. Here's where it gets ugly. His defenders are saying that this is just his style of sardonic humor. Those of us who are pissed are being too sensitive and need to lighten up and stop being so PC. And I'd be willing to accept this if his column didn't spur some of his readers on to such insane levels of hatred. Witness the "comments" section from TMZ:

• KevMa doesn't get it: Do the gays think they need to be accepted by everyone or America is a big fat bigot, and a meany? Oh hell ya girl.
• Lovely doesn't get it either: Well said. This country is going to hell with all this GAYNESS. Faggotry is sick, especially when they have the audacity to want to raise children. The next generation is going to be soooooooooo gay!!
• Jen has an overactive imagination: If you want to take it up the a$$, don't wonder why normal people stare in disgust. Your a$$ is meant for exiting-crap. Daddies should be real men, not perverts who play in $hit.
• Princess the Ruler is just a bitch, in every one of her half dozen posts: This shit is polluting MANKIND!!!!!! I mean, what's gonna be next MEN WANTING TO MARRY DOGS, CATS, ZOO ANIMALS???
• Native Vermont would love to be racist but he's scared: All this 'embrace diversity' crap makes me ill. I would never hurt another person physically about things but I don't have to like what they stand for or get close and chummy with them because it would be cool to pal with other races and orientations. My comments are not just geared to Garrison but all the others in the last several months that have taken the heat primarily because they are so-called stars. Isaiah, Mel, Richards, and so forth and so on. These are the people who can most afford to stand up for themselves because they have money and jobs they won't lose. Most people who would like to say what they feel, can't, because they have to work in the world and get by.
• GodBlessAmerica must've missed that it was satire also: I'm so sick and tired of this politically correct shit that I'm not gonna take it anymore,Call it like it is, faggolas.Our society has no room for these loons.If you don't like our laws,get the f**k out of here and take your stupid looking dogs with you.
• JasonMar is upset that we call him a bigot, the poor little victim: I agree with him. Our whole country has gone to hell. Everything in this world needs to be accepted or you are looked upon as a bigot. I am sick of it.
• E.J. turns it around, and claims that us queers created this stereotype. Or at least "proliferated" it: What I still don't hear from anyone else commenting on this non-story is that Keillor neither created nor proliferated the stereotypical gay male image that his humorous comment refers to. The gay community proliferates it and the straight community jumps on board so as to seem like they're supportive of gay rights.

And it goes on and on, for seven pages. I didn't make it through all of them. For those who get it, sorry for ruining your breakfast. For those who don't: even if Keillor doesn't hate ... and I don't think he does, honestly ... his comments serve as a catalyst for hate. You can call it humor, you can talk about freedom of speech, but at the end of the day it makes the world an uglier place.

Here we go again ... maybe ...

Guess which Conservative poster-boy was a gay porn-star? Yep, Cpl. Matt Sanchez, the man on the left (and not that monster on the right).

Stupid Border Manager won't let me peak at the good sites, but this article from Joe.My.God broke the story & covers all you need to know.

What should be interesting is, he's willing to go on record in an interview with Joe. I'll keep you posted.

(and I'm still fasting, and still have the same waist size. Where's my g'damn 6 pack already? Haven't I suffered enough?)

Mud and Discos

It was a pretty busy weekend here - it started with a nice bang, but ended with me being all dressed up & with no place to go.

The dinner Firday night went well. I'll post the good recipes in the next post. The avgolemono, potatoes, chickpeas, and watermelon are all keepers. I still need to work on my bean recipes - I still can't seem to recreate some of the awesome white bean dishes I had in Turkey and Greece.

I slept at Allen's Friday night. We woke up at 4:30 to a cold, cold rain. I wanted to bag,& if I had been at my own place I would have. Instead, Allen, Roz, Rob T, & I piled into his truck & headed onto base. We couldn't find an open coffee shop, so I had to make do with Red Bull. It was horrid. I refuse to believe that anyone actually likes this stuff. I think they've all been brain-washed to think it's cool, and that everyone is scared to admit that, really, it tastes like a chemical soup.

At least the rain stopped. It turned out to be a beautiful day. We had four teams running (top), and maybe the same amount there to drink and cheer them on (bottom). I placed myself near the biggest mud puddles to get some good action shots (second). I did a bit better this year in getting more pictures of our guys (third) and less of random hot marines (fourth). Partly, it was because there were fewer random hot marines [there were still a ton, but it wasn't as overwhelming as last year]; partly, it was because my camera battery was low.

The full pics are online here.

Saturday evening I went with Billy and Jerome to Restaurant Epic [Grand Cafe's Anthony Vierra's new place downtown - he partnered with the Changs of Little Village to open it. He's still at Grand Cafe, but (according to the waiter) GC is his mom's restaurant, while this one is his]. The food was very modern, and very well done - we ordered a mess of appetizers, the best of which included seared scallops in a mango sauce, wild-mushroom blintzes, a spinach salad with hot bacon dressing and a poached egg on top, and a "fire and ice" mousse with Mexican chocolate and a touch of cayenne.

They didn't have their liquor license yet, but they claim to have a 'signature' sangria. I'll be the judge of that ... but based on the menu so far I'd guess that it'll be good.

Afterwords I joined Dawn for her birthday party at Pearl. Pearl claims to bring the "luxury lounge experience to Honolulu." Why, they even had velvet ropes! I think that must have impressed all the girls in little black dresses (all of which were far too tight for their chunky little bodies) - the place was packed. If I ever want to find a Filipina wife, I'll come here. There was a whole wall lined with bachelorettes eyeing every man who walked by. It would have been so easy to score here. I don't know why straight men complain so much.

It's located on the roof of a mall, so it didn't surprise me that the velvet ropes were guarding a minor ante-room to hell. And while I was impressed with the decor, the service and music sucked beyond words. I finally managed to buy two bottles of wine for our table after about forty minutes of negotiating with our waitress. Dawn was bummed out about some issues when I got there, but she agreed to dance. We found a dance floor with tables in the middle of it (which makes no sense to me) and packed with girls holding cocktails. Which - that's just trashy. Don't ever bring glassware onto a dancefloor. Even Britney knows better than that.

So we danced half a song to some mediocre hip-hop, and then the dj switched to heavy metal oldies. I'm serious - it was Sweet Child of Mine. Not remixed, and not redone ... it was the original whiny ballad in all its whiny glory. We tried to dance, but between the Asian girls on one side doing faux-lesbo hoochie moves and white girls on the other doing rocker-chick groupie moves to the dj it was all too much. We fled into the night.

Too bad, 'cause I had just enough wine in me that hell was starting to be fun. At least I didn't pay to get in (jumped the queue, but that's another story). Dawn dropped me off just outside Waikiki, just after midnite ... and that was it. I was all dressed up, didn't want to go home, and didn't want to go to frakkin' Angles or Fusions. So I walked around a bit, tried calling some guys who I thought might be up [no luck], and finally gave up on the night.

Sunday was recovery. One of my cichlids went on a killing spree, so I caught him and moved him to a guppy pond. I went to the petstore to replace the victims, did laundry, did the dishes, cleaned up the corpses of the birds my cats caught while I was out playing, and studied some more Arabic. Exciting all the way.

Civil Unions Bill

This email has been flying around the gay community fast and furiously. I think I found close to ten copies in my box this morning. It's coming at me from all directions.

There's a good chance that the majority party (Dems) will caucus on this bill sometime in the next two days; which means that the Reps. will take an informal, private, vote to see if the measure has a chance of passing on the floor of the House. Therefore, it's also VERY important that your own Rep. hear from you. So, in addition to contacting Rep. Waters, it's also important that you call and email your own Rep. Go to www.capitol.hawaii.gov if you don't know who your Rep. is.

If you guys/gals want this - make your voices heard! This shit does not happen on it's own folks.

Jacce

I went ahead and wrote Rep. Say this morning. I think he has a good track record, but, for what it's worth, I've added my voice.

Meth and Man Ass

So, Dave C calls a couple days ago and asks if I like football. That was an easy one. No.

"Oh. Well, never mind then."

And ... hold on. "You're not about to tell me you have tickets to the Pro Bowl, are you?"

And well, sure enough, he does. And I do so hate to be left out of a party, and baby I can change my tune on a dime. "Wait - football? Yeah, I could like football." Fake it 'til you make it, right? So I'm laying low tonight, as the tailgate starts at 10am tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I know I was all empathetic with Ted Haggard earlier. Well, empathy can only last so long. This is too good not to share ... Donnie Davies' tribute to the Reverend, Meth and Man Ass. Click at your own risk.

O L`Amour: Paul Barnes

Direct this morning from Christianity Today:

Further controversy has overwhelmed the American evangelical Church this week as the founding pastor of the 2,100 member Grace Chapel resigns following his confession that he has taken part in homosexual relations.

Having led the church for 28 years, Paul Barnes, who also has a wife and two adult daughters, broke the news to his congregation on Sunday via a video-taped message.

Associate pastor Dave Palmer said in a written statement: “While we cannot condone what he has done, we continue to support and love Paul.”

...

Barnes confessed to Palmer last week, and a board of elders held an emergency meeting on Thursday where they accepted the resignation of Barnes.

Barnes, 54, said: “I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy. I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away.”

Despite the developments, Barnes confirmed his belief that the Bible clearly teaches that homosexuality is a sin.

Here's "Kaylee" on the reaction of the congregation:

You know, I'm 20 years old and I've been going to Grace Chapel for 18 years of my life and have been graced with having Paul as my pastor. I was there the day they showed the video and no one walked out. At least half the people were crying and the other half was obviously sad. But we don't think anything less of him. And I think it's horrible this is being compared to that guy from Colorado Springs! Paul wasn't accused by anyone, he said it himself. Plus if his wife Char can accept him, why can't we? Plus he NEVER admitted to having sexual relations or anything of the sort with anyone. Us all at Grace love, miss, and are praying for Paul.

And that is going to be the last of my respectful posts on the topic - not only because I seem to have run out of empathy, but because the Reverend's Men of Grace website has so much lovely homoerotic woofiness going on. If the photo on the main page [left] isn't enough to attract men who ... ahem ... struggle, then the description of his summer retreat, Gold Rush, just might: Gold Rush is a great opportunity to enjoy God's creation, deepen your walk with Him, your son, and your brothers in Christ. Bring along your big-boy toys and join in a weekend of fun and fellowship.

And all the while, the Reverend Mrs. was leading the Women of Grace down a path perfect for the stay at home Brokeback Housewife. If only the minsteries weren't so segregated, the reverend might have caught his wife's talk on Resisting the Apple (6 Sept 2006), and been saved! Because while the men were off frolicking in the woods with their big boy toys and learning about Being God's Man by Pursuing Friendship (Tuesday evenings at 7 pm), Char Barnes was teaching the women about Forgiving What You Can't Forget (1 Nov), moving From Marriage to Marvelous (19 April), and How to Be Filled to Overflowing (1 March).

And if only all the buggers had attended the last, and listened with an open mind. She starts by defining a Missional Community as: Two or more people who are sharing life together, pursuing spiritual formation in Christ together and engaging together in whatever form that God is leading them to take.

She backs it up with Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ...

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their
work:

10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who
falls and has no one to help him up!

The next missionaries who knock on my door are doomed ... I am so going to throw this stuff back in their faces.

Hot Off the Press

I really am working today, but I have an RSS feed on my homepage and this ... this is big enough to take a break. As of exactly two hours ago [ho - I'm scooping CNN! Dad would be proud!] -

Gay unions legal: Mexico City
10.11.2006. 09:07:09

Mexico City has approved homosexual civil unions, legalising gay partnerships for the first time in the world's second-largest Catholic nation.

The national capital's municipal assembly, controlled by left-wing legislators, backed legal gay union by a vote of 43-17 as hundreds of rival protesters demonstrated noisily outside the building.

The local congress in the northern border state of Coahuila, bordering Texas, began debating a similar law to legalise gay unions this week.

"These reforms are going to cause a snowball effect that no one will be able to stop," said David Sanchez of the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, one of very few openly gay national congressmen.

The legislation in Mexico City and Coahuila is modelled on France's civil code and provides property, pension, inheritance and even co-parenting rights but stops short of allowing full marriage or adoption of children.

Brokeback Revisited

09 Jan - I list all my reasons for refusing to see Brokeback Mountain

05 Feb - I'm still devastated the day after seeing the movie, and it will continue to haunt me for days after.

06 Feb - Alastair in Sydney comments:

• Hmmm ... some of your "buds" down here in Sydney (we're your "mates", Mike, for crying out loud - "buds" are little sticks with cotton wool on each end that we use for cleaning our ears and applying our eye shadow) went to see Bareback Mountain the day after it opened. And, quite frankly, we were pretty much all underwhelmed and disappointed. I know that in different ways they were both under-resourced emotionally, educationally and financially but is California REALLY that far from Wyoming and Texas??? Didn't you just want to stand up in the cinema and burst into "Go West! Life is peaceful there ..."? And it might have helped if we'd understood even half of whatever it was Heath was mumbling. Anyway 4/10 ...

Well, mate - has Ted Haggard's story been getting press down there? Check out his letter below ... There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it all of my adult life ... and believe me that parts of America really are that far from the modern world.

I don't think this is a front on Haggard's part. Foley's excuses [the priest touched me and that's why I chase teenage boys] disgusted me. Greevey is playing queen of the Fire Island nightlife but in my book he's still a corrupt politician who violated the public trust. Haggard I actually feel for. His pain feels real.

I checked out the gay forums, and there is no sympathy. He's a cockroach and a hypocrite and the boys are having fun watching him go down. Rex Wockner does a blog on Bad Gays after the scandal hits, and Signorile interviews the rentboy on Haggard's favorite positions [ok, that was actually a pretty interesting interview].

But it wasn't that long ago that we were all [excepting the Sydney boys] empathizing with Heath Ledger's portrayal of a character exactly like Ted Haggard.

And seriously, this man needs the support of the gay community far more than any public figure I can think of. What this man faces will be brutal. His "spiritual restoration" has already begun. According to the Christian Post, there will be prayer, and perhaps the laying on of hands. There will be counseling and a confession. And there will be advice, confrontation and rebuke from "godly men" appointed to oversee the spiritual restoration of the Rev. Ted Haggard.

It will be hell.

And I know - we all know - that after all the prayers, laying on of hands, and confrontations - he'll still be gay. The question for me is, will he be gay and proud & strong enough to stand up to the other godly men, or will he end up gay and broken?

Gayle Haggard's letter to her congregation

Dear Women of New Life Church,

I am so sorry for the circumstances that have led me to write this letter to you today. I know your hearts are broken; mine is as well. Yet my hope rests steadfastly in the Lord who is forever faithful.

What I want you to know is that I love my husband, Ted Haggard, with all my heart. I am committed to him until death "do us part." We started this journey together and with the grace of God, we will finish together.

If I were standing before you today, I would not change one iota of what I have been teaching the women of our church. For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case. My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful.

I love you all so much, especially you young women – you were my delight.

To all the church family of New Life Church – Ted and I are so proud of you. You are all we hoped you would be. In our minds, there is no greater church.

As you try to make sense of these past few days, know that Ted believes with all his heart and soul everything he has ever taught you, those things you are putting into practice. He is now the visible and public evidence that every man (woman and child) needs a Savior.

We are grateful for your prayers for our family.

I hold you forever in my heart,

Gayle Haggard

Ted Haggard's letter to his congregation

My Dear New Life Church Family,

I am so sorry. I am sorry for the disappointment, the betrayal, and the hurt. I am sorry for the horrible example I have set for you.

I have an overwhelming, all-consuming sadness in my heart for the pain that you and I and my family have experienced over the past few days. I am so sorry for the circumstances that have caused shame and embarrassment to all of you.

I asked that this note be read to you this morning so I could clarify my heart’s condition to you. The last four days have been so difficult for me, my family and all of you, and I have further confused the situation with some of the things I’ve said during interviews with reporters who would catch me coming or going from my home. But I alone am responsible for the confusion caused by my inconsistent statements. The fact is, I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem.

I am a deceiver and a liar. There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it all of my adult life. For extended periods of time, I would enjoy victory and rejoice in freedom. Then, from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach.

Through the years, I’ve sought assistance in a variety of ways, with none of them proving to be effective in me. Then, because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most because I didn’t want to hurt or disappoint them.

The public person I was wasn’t a lie; it was just incomplete. When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness increased and finally dominated me. As a result, I did things that were contrary to everything I believe.

The accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true, but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from ministry. Our church’s overseers have required me to submit to the oversight of Dr. James Dobson, Pastor Jack Hayford, and Pastor Tommy Barnett. Those men will perform a thorough analysis of my mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical life. They will guide me through a program with the goal of healing and restoration for my life, my marriage, and my family.

I created this entire situation. The things I did opened the door for additional allegations. But I am responsible; I alone need to be disciplined and corrected. An example must be set.

It is important that you know how much I love and appreciate my wife, Gayle. What I did should never reflect in a negative way on her relationship with me. She has been and continues to be incredible. The problem was not with her, my children, or any of you. It was created 100% by me.

I have been permanently removed from the office of Senior Pastor of New Life Church. Until a new senior pastor is chosen, our Associate Senior Pastor, Ross Parsley, will assume all of the responsibilities of the office. On the day he accepted this new role, he and his wife, Aimee, had a new baby boy. A new life in the midst of this circumstance – I consider that confluence of events to be prophetic. Please commit to join with Pastor Ross and the others in the church leadership to make their service to you easy and without burden. They are fine leaders. You are blessed.

I appreciate your loving and forgiving nature, and I humbly ask you to do a few things:

1. Please stay faithful to God through service and giving.

2. Please forgive me. I am so embarrassed and ashamed. I caused this and I have no excuse. I am a sinner. I have fallen. I desperately need to be forgiven and healed.

3. Please forgive my accuser. He is revealing the deception and sensuality that was in my life. Those sins, and others, need to be dealt with harshly. So, forgive him and actually, thank God for him. I am trusting that his actions will make me, my wife and family, and ultimately all of you, stronger. He didn’t violate you; I did.

4. Please stay faithful to each other. Perform your functions well. Encourage each other and rejoice in God’s faithfulness. Our church body is a beautiful body, and like every family, our strength is tested and proven in the midst of adversity. Because of the negative publicity I’ve created with my foolishness, we can now demonstrate to the world how our sick and wounded can be healed, and how even disappointed and betrayed church bodies can prosper and rejoice.

Gayle and I need to be gone for a while. We will never return to a leadership role at New Life Church. In our hearts, we will always be members of this body. We love you as our family. I know this situation will put you to the test. I’m sorry I’ve created the test, but please rise to this challenge and demonstrate the incredible grace that is available to all of us.

Ted Haggard