Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

Superbowl Exposed: The real reason they couldn't show a ManCrunch commercial...

Between the butt shots from below of the players, to the butt shots of the men in the Dockers Superbowl commercial, showing a spot for ManCrunch would expose just how truly homoerotic football is.

Spineless Democrats, Misleading Media and the Obama Agenda of Change

Let's start with a sentence in the first paragraph of this week's New Yorker's Talk of the Town:

"On January 19th, a Republican won the Massachusetts seat that had been held for nearly half a century by Edward M. Kennedy, thereby depriving the Senate Democrats of the sixtieth vote they need to pass legislation."

Have I fallen down a rabbit hole? What the hell is wrong with the media on this subject? The Democrats need 60 votes to shut down debate or a filibuster. They only need 51 votes to pass legislation. HELLO?!?

The problem is that the Democrats are too spineless to let the Republicans filibuster. Please, let them argue against what the majority of Americans want. Let them make fools of themselves in public. Set them up. Go ahead.

But no. Obama said he wanted change. He wanted a bipartisan solution.

This isn't change. It's the usual Republican roadblock and the usual wimpy Democratric response.

The only thing that has changed is Obama's agenda, which also gets wimpier all the time.

I can't even watch Jon Stewart anymore because the whole thing disgusts me so much I can't laugh at it. Meanwhile, the DNC continues to call me for money and I continue to tell them that I've gone along with Don't Ask, Don't Give. Holding hearings don't cut it. The president could issue a stop loss order today while the debate moves forward. He hasn't. And so my wallet is closed.

Mind you, the wallet isn't very full, given that I haven't had full time employment in two years. I'm paying for my own health insurance, and not a small amount. I live tight. But I opened that wallet for Obama and the Dems in the 08 election. Results?

The change Obama promised happened: he changed from a populist economic policy to one that favored the bankers. He made deals with big pharma. And he ignored the base that put him in office.

His one flash of fire last week was to comment on Republicans calling his citizenship into question. Does he seriously think that's going to stop? Does he seriously think a party the party of Richard Nixon (and Roger Ailes' Willie Horton commercial) is going to be civil and play fair? What kind of drugs did the pharma people give him anyway?

Grrrrrr.

Is Facebook Going Amazon On Us? Social Networking, Homophobia, Advertising and Censorhip

Gay activist and prolific author, Perry Brass, finds that his latest book, The Manly Art of Seduction, has been banned from advertising on Facebook. This is peculiar, since I've seen advertising for male "massage" therapists on Facebook who offer services that are not part of the licensing process. Not that I am in favor of FB posting those "massage" ads. If you're looking for that sort of think you know where to go. But Perry's book is not of that order. It's about how men connect with men — energetically, romantically, spiritually, physically, emotionally, sexually. And since you can buy it on the famously messed up for gay writers, Amazon, FB shouldn't have a problem with it. But they seem to, as noted here at Out In Jersey.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in learning some of these skills first hand, Perry's got a workshop in NYC on the 20th of this month at the Center. I imagine it will be a lot of fun — and enlightening on many levels. 

The casual inhumanity on display in Elderplan advertising...the commercial as Freudian slip.

Elderplan is a supplemental Medicare plan that runs advertising in NYC — advertising that while fairly easy to follow for those eligible, displays a shocking insensitivity. If you've ever worked as a telemarketer — if you've ever had to take a job cold-calling people or taking 800 number calls — you know how hard it can be, and how employers try to keep you on your headset without a break, regardless of biological, physical or psychological needs. So when the spokesperson on this commercial, after delivering the sell, turns around to see one of the phone reps getting up, her response is "Hey, where are you going?"

And while this might convey to the target that they'll get through, there's no waiting on hold for a rep, it also conveys the messages that this employer — and Elderplan — has little care for the needs of its employees. Which leads one to question how they might really feel about thetheir customers when they're in need. 

I have no idea what the copywriter, the agency or the client thought when they made this spot. But as both a copywriter — and a former telemarketing rep — I am offended. Pardon me, Elderplan, but your Shadow is showing.

How hot are Bertolli Oven Baked Meals? When two sexy men kiss, it's really hot.

Yep, in this TV commercial for Bertolli (running exclusively on Logo) there's a sexy kiss planted on the cheek of the "hero" of the spot. The fantasy sequence is fun, and the reality our hero comes back to is even better. Three cheers for Bertolli and Unilever. I know whose pasta I'm purchasing.

The Peggy Noonan Problem

In the Wall Street Journal, the woman who put pretty words in the mealy mouth of a man who ignored tens of thousands of Americans dying in the 1980s (she was Reagan's speechwriter for those who don't remember), Peggy Noonan, has just written: 

But increasingly people feel at the mercy of the Adam Lamberts, who of course view themselves, when criticized, as victims of prudery and closed-mindedness. America is not prudish or closed-minded, it is exhausted. It cannot be exaggerated, how much Americans feel besieged by the culture of their own country, and to what lengths they have to go to protect their children from it.

I am sorry Ms. Noonan if you feel besieged. I would agree that there is much in the media that is crass, disgusting and hateful. Like Glenn Beck's racism for example. I don't notice you wasting any ink on him. 

If you want to talk about feeling besieged, ask all the lgbt people who were victims of hate crimes this last year. 

Please, spare me your mock outrage. 

I don't disagree that we could use more civility. Start on your side of the fence please. Thank you, and excuse me. 

Sunday Morning Cartoon (sort of): Robot, Ninja & Gay Guy

How I have managed to miss this little internet oddity for several months I have no idea. The premise is explained very simply on their Facebook Fan Page:

"What happens when a gay guy needs new roommates and the only ones who respond to the Craigslist ad are a robot and a ninja? This..."

It's so geeky silly I just love it. Yes, I know it's not a cartoon, but it's about as cartoony as live action gets. And episode 5 takes place in a comic book store! The guys behind this have their own youtube channel with other regular video comedy postings, including a series called (and how I missed this is even more bizarre) Two Hot Guys in A Shower. Doesn't work as well for me. But what interests me is the way creativity and content continue to be democratized (though of course, the goal, you can be sure, for these guys is to "discovered" and make it big. So they can get their 8 million dollars a movie.

The fan page says that there are new episodes the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month. Since they started in August and we're in October, they aren't keeping to schedule otherwise there would be more than 5 episodes at this point. But I'm not arguing.

Gay men targeted by the NYPD and the ongoing violation of our rights.

When I came out in 1970, I started hanging out on Christopher Street, since I wasn’t really a drinker and didn’t like the bar scene. Most gay men cruising on Christopher Street at the time were guys who lived in the Village and they had a prop that helped them avoid being arrested for loitering or cruising. How did it work? Well, dogs being what they are, when they see each other, they want to nose each other out. And this would allow two men to stand on the street and talk to each other (please resist thinking that men are dogs!) and it would look perfectly natural. Because in fact it is perfectly natural, dog or no dog. Except when I would hang out on the street, dogless and not living in the village, the police in their cruisers would sometimes drive right up onto the sidewalk to intimidate me and my friends. I was never arrested.

However, amazingly, people are still being arrested by the police for cruising. Last Tuesday, Slate magazine reported that despite the fact that the NY Supreme Court ruled the “anti-cruising” laws unconstitutional in 1983, the police still target and arrest men for simply stopping to have a private conversation with another man (even if one of those men is a police officer loitering with the sole goal of entrapment). In fact, the article notes that since 1983 there have been between bail, fines and court fees, New York City has taken in over $300,000 from more than 15,000 cases.

Not many men have contested the charges, and no one has fought back far enough to make it a rights violation case where the city has to pay damages. Because you can be sure, once the city has to cough up $300,000 or more because they violated our rights the orders will come down to make this unconstitutional practice a relic of the 70s.

Meanwhile, let’s stop for a minute to remember the false arrests a few months back that were supposedly for soliciting at porn shops that garnered protest in the community and much ire vented at Speaker Christine Quinn (who after much noise did something about it). Clearly there is a pattern of harassment against individual gay men by the police. Now add into the mix the recent bias-attack in Hell’s Kitchen where the police did not arrest an attacker. This became a media issue because one of the men attacked is a radio host, WPLJ DJ Blake Hayes. We don’t know how many gay men get shut down by the NYPD and don’t press it because they don’t have a channel to make the right noise (and consider too how many of us are ashamed that we have been attacked and are just grateful we’re not in the hospital.)

Let’s review. The NYPD has been:
1.    Arresting gay men for cruising
2.    Arresting gay men on trumped up charges of soliciting
3.    Dismissing bias attacks against gay men.

Pardon me, but while I am in favor of marriage equality, I’d like to know that my basic rights (and my physical safety) are being protected. And I think some gay rights groups in the city might need to focus some righteous anger in the direction of the NYPD. It's sounds like it's time for an old-style GAA Zap, bringing media attention to this whole sordid affair. And to call for some heads.

Getting Gay Nerd Street Cred: My Stamp Collection for U.N. Day

It’s U.N. Day this week, an international holiday observed for the most part only by schoolchildren and diplomats. And when I was a schoolchild in the 1960s, and optimism and idealism about the U.N. ran high, every October 24th, we’d sing the U.N. song:

United Nations on the march, with flags unfurled.
Together fight for victory, a free new world.

Back in the day when I believed the U.N. could save the world, I collected stamps. And so in honor of U.N. day (and in fact, the 20th through the 24th is U.N. week) I’m posting photos of my favorite U.N. first day of issue commemorative stamps.

The first two, in fact, aren’t really U.N. stamps — they’re a post office mistake. Because at the same time the USPS was honoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (thank you Eleanor Roosevelt!) they were also honoring John Muir (who well deserved the honor). However, my UN first day envelope has the John Muir stamp on it. Not worth much from a philately point of view, but interesting.

A couple of other favorites include two stamps, exactly the same, but different colors, for the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. There’s a different envelope for each color stamp. A fantasy boyfriend I spent several years with dedicated his life’s work to this cause, so when I see these stamps I think of him. For those of you who don't use the phrase fantasy boyfriend in this way, I mean it as someone I spent time with, fantasizing a relationship that was not there. Another word of that is self-delusion.

I remember when I was 4th grade and Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash (and clearly shot down). It was, as I say, an idealistic time, and Hammarskjold was much admired in the world. So he was beatified almost immediately (not by the church of course, I mean in the media). And there were stamps commemorating his life for several years in a row. It was only after I had come out in college that I learned Hammarskjold was gay. And I wondered how his sexuality influenced his pursuit of peace. And what he would have thought of the modern gay rights movement had he lived.

Then there are the stamps honoring the IMF and IBRD. The International Bank of Reconstruction and Development was founded during WWII as a  way of financing the rebuilding of Europe and Japan after the war. It’s a division of the IMF, which was founded under the auspices of the U.N. during the war (when the U.N. was a nascent organization itself).

The mission of the IMF is to “foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty." Unfortunately, we all know the IMF has used its resources to support military dictatorships over democratically elected governments, and does so to this day in Sudan and Syria. Hammarskjold would be appalled I am sure. Nice stamps though. And they were issued as part of the ideals of another age. Not to totally dis the U.N. — I know much important work is done there, from HIV prevention education in SE Asia to UNICEF rescuing child soldiers (Ishmael Beah, adopted son of my friend and teacher Laura Simms is one of those former soldiers). So while I may not feel positively about many things that are happening over on 42nd Street at the East River, I am glad I live in a world where the U.N. exists.

Today I go to the USPS and there are stamps of the Simpsons. In a weird way, the Simpsons is a lot more honest than the IMF. So no arguments from me.

Obama's HRC Speech and the National Equality March — Words Vs. Deeds

Over at Joe. My. God. today JJ quoted Dan Savage on the endless blathery speeches given at the National Equality March:

"People don't go to demonstrations or marches to be talked to death, they don't go to be harangued, they don't go to listen—God forbid—to poetry. They show up because they want to do something, they want to do something themselves, they want to take symbolic action. Part of what made ACT-UP so successful back before it was overrun by the same sorts of fuckwits and yahoos who ran yesterday's rally and march was that ACT-UP didn't waste your time."

Savages words have generated a very heated discussion in the comments section. But of course, the blathery speeches weren't only given on the Mall. There was Obama's speech, which actually referenced an activist who didn't go in much for speeches — Morty Manford. Obama talked about Morty in passing as part of the story of his mother co--founding PFLAG. In an article today in the L.A. Times, David Ehrenstein writes about Morty and his history in NYC in GAA, which was the spiritual father of Act-Up, and where the "zap" — a political action meant to generate publicity and public support by pushing the forces of bigotry to show themselves in all their ugliness — was first developed.

Ehrenstein writes of the GAA Media Committee, of which he was a member with Vito Russo, Morty and others:

"It was our job to make sure the local newspapers and pre-cable television covered our protest demonstrations, which we called zaps. Getting coverage was no easy task in an era when the New York Times, under Abe Rosenthal, avoided homosexual issues like the plague.

Morty proved to be well-suited to fighting. In 1968, he had helped found Gay People at Columbia University, one of the nation's first gay campus groups. In 1972, he took on Michael Maye, president of New York City's Uniformed Firefighters Assn., who was accused of beating Morty during a GAA zap of the Inner Circle -- New York City big shots who got together for homophobic skits and partying. Several city officials testified that Maye threw Morty down an escalator, then kicked and stomped him. Maye was acquitted, but the gay-rights law the GAA wanted the muckety-mucks to pass was signed soon afterward."

Not everyone is willing to get stomped. That's the risk of taking non-violent and theatrical protest. But as Ghandi and King proved, it takes time, but it works. It takes the moral high ground. Ehrenstein's point is that had Morty been in the room he would have interrupted Obama with cries of "WHEN?" He would have demanded specific action, because the time for words is past. It's time for action.

GAA understood this. Act-Up understood this. The organizers of the Equality March? They understood neither the lessons of GAA and Act-Up or the lessons of Harvey Milk: Get attention for the cause in a way that exposes the hate and bigotry of the opposition, and organize at the grass roots level in communities to win elections. There was a lot of talk from NEM about going home to do just that — no one needed to go to DC for this, the groups are there. This was I believe truly wasted effort at a time when if just 10% of these people had gone to MAINE to defend marriage equality it would make a real difference.

And on that subject of organizing on the community level. In the last year I have seen the same young men on the street on the UWS soliciting funds for HRC. They've stopped soliciting me though because I let them know not only my opinions of HRC, but also of them asking people on the UWS for support. I mean, next to Berkeley, this is about as liberal as it gets in the United States. They should be on the street in Astoria. Or in the district of Ruben Diaz in the Bronx. This is preaching to the converted. And a waste of time. But that is HRC. And that's my Monday morning queer rights grumbling.