Out
of Annapolis gives the LGBT alumni of the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, the
chance to tell their stories after serving their country in silence as Navy and
Marine Corps officers.
These
brave citizens speak candidly about difficult circumstances that some service
people have found more stressful than battle.
As
DADT lumbers slowly towards repeal, you might think this film will be just
another bit of history — documenting the past. However, what makes this film a
moving portrait of LGBT Americans is how it captures the strong bond they feel
towards the Naval Academy. And how it shows the many positive ways the Naval
Academy shaped their character.
It
will be shown with Silent Partners, documenting how DADT affects the lives of
the partners of 3deployed service
members and the screening is sponsored the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
If you don't check in regularly at Mark Fiore's site to see his weekly animated political cartoons, you're really missing something. Like this for example:
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?
The big China story this
week is Google blowing the whistle on cyberspying and censorship. This is of
personal interest to me because I chat online with a gay Chinese man in Chengdu
every week, and there are subjects he doesn’t know about, and things he doesn’t
have access to.
Once I found myself cutting and pasting the sentences from a
censored story into the chat window so he would know what I was writing about.
But of course, this was risky business and he made it clear he didn’t want me
to do that in the future — our conversation is simply about gay life in the US,
since in Chengdu it isn’t anywhere near as open as it seems to be in Beijing,
where this week, what is billed as an officially sanctioned male beauty pageant (you can see a video of these shirtless young men here). I suspect my friend in Chengdu can't get to this video link however.
Late Breaking Development That Should Be No Surprise: Police Shut Down The Pageant — Full Story Here.
That's a sea change from
just a few years back when homosexuality was a criminal offense. Bu then, in a
country where a one child policy and the preference for male children has led
to a male/female ratio that makes it hard for a straight guy to find a wife,
taking the pressure off gay men from marrying as cover just might help a
little. In fact, it also helps take some pressure off the regime, since a
country with several million frustrated young men has got to feel like a powder
keg no matter who is in power.
I have no idea what's
behind the ruling Communist Party easing up on things in Beijing, but it's
still not easy if you're in the provinces. And I’m not just talking Chengdu.
Mongolia for example. If
you're in NYC this month, stop by the LGBT Center on 13th Street — in the lobby
there is an amazing exhibit documenting the lives of LGBT Mongolians living in
the capital city of Ulaanbaatar.
Beyond the Blue Sky,
created and produced by Brandt Miller, includes amazing portrait photography by
Miller and Mareike Günsche and a film by Miller and Sean Devaney.
The photographs are
intense and dramatic. While some of the men in these photos are shirtless, each of the subjects’ faces covered by a khadag — a
ceremonial scarf made of a sacred blue cloth representing the eternal sky and
used at funerals to wrap the head of the deceased.
Each photo is accompanied
with an oral history — a life story of each subject, transcribed by Miller
— that captures the universal longing all lgbt people feel, that all
people feel: the need for love and intimacy that is not merely recognized, but
celebrated.
Miller, who was in
Mongolia on a Fulbright Fellowship, was a co-founder of the first LGBT Center
in Ulaanbaatar.
The exhibit will be on
view at the NYC LGBT Center on 13th Street through April. If you go
there regularly as I do, take some time to stop and see it all. If you don’t go
to the Center, consider stopping in. There are so many groups that meet there,
and social services provided, it can be easy to overlook the fact that the
Center is indeed a central arts resource for the community too.
Here is a video interview with Miller, followed by the video documentary made with Sean Devaney:
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 track record of the Obama administration isn't very good about this. In fact, they suck. Which is why I've signed on for Don't Ask Don't Give. Now here's the latest chance Obama has to make it right, or fuck up.
According the the L.A. Times:
A federal judge today ordered compensation
for a Los Angeles couple denied spousal benefits by the federal
government because they are gay men.
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt deemed the
denial of healthcare and other benefits to the spouse of federal public
defender Brad Levenson to be a violation of the Constitution's
guarantee of due process and discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation, which is prohibited by California state law.
Levenson married his longtime partner, Tony Sears, on July 12, 2008,
during the five-month period when same-sex marriage was legal in
California. A ballot measure, Proposition 8, was passed a year ago
defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Reinhardt, who is the federal judge responsible for resolving
employee disputes in the Federal Public Defenders office within the 9th
Circuit, had earlier ordered the Administrative Office of the U.S.
Courts to process Levenson's application for spousal benefits for
Sears. The federal government's Office of Personnel Management stepped
in to derail the enrollment, however, citing the 1996 Defense of
Marriage Act that prohibits the recognition of same-sex marriage for
the purpose of federal benefits or programs.
Levenson appealed, seeking either an independently contracted
benefits package for his spouse or payment of the equivalent value of
the coverage denied. Reinhardt ordered the latter, based on a "back
pay" provision in the law covering federal defense lawyers' employment.
"Considering that the federal government won't give Tony the equal
benefits package of other spouses, we are very pleased with this
decision," said Levenson. "Is it equal treatment? No. Is it a good
remedy? Yes. And we are appreciative of the judge's order."
Levenson said he and Sears have been keeping track of the costs of
insuring Sears independently and estimate the back pay and future
compensation will amount to thousands of dollars each year.
The judge's order is expected to resolve the injustice Reinhardt has
cited in previous orders in Levenson's case. But it also recognizes the
status quo of federal government rejection of gay marriage under the
Defense of Marriage Act. Several other challenges by those denied
federal benefits, like filing joint tax returns, are making their way
slowly through the federal courts.
The Obama administration has spoken out against what it sees as a
discriminatory policy toward gay spouses of federal employees but Atty.
Gen. Eric Holder has also said his office is obliged to defend the
practice as long as the Defense of Marriage Act remains law.
There it is. What will Obama and Holder do now? Fight the compensation? Let's see...
In NY State, ESPA knows how to play hardball. Last month, after promises of the Senate taking up Marriage Equality were not realized, GayCityNews reported:
Voicing frustration at what he characterized as allies unwilling to walk the walk after the LGBT community’s strong financial support for electing a Senate Democratic majority last year, Alan Van Capelle had warned that if no vote happened on marriage equality, “We can find other friends who will do that job for us and do it faster. We know such friends exist.” Later in his remarks, he got a lot more specific, saying, “The time for lame excuses, for botched maneuvers and simple, plain old foot-dragging is passed... Senator John Sampson, you are the leader of the State Senate. Senator Tom Duane, you have told us on multiple occasions you have the votes to pass this bill. Give us the dignity, the rights, and respect we deserve.”
Asked about Sampson’s reaction on Tuesday to those comments, Van Capelle said simply, “We ended up in a place where we got commitment for a vote. It was a frank conversation and it yielded a good result. Everybody in that room expressed a commitment to work together and stay together to make the bill law by the end of the year."
Duane would only say that the discussion in the room was “passionate.
Simply the threat and naming names pushed things along here. Being willing to passionately defend ourselves instead of meekly waiting or being satisfied with White House photo ops makes a difference.This is why I've signed on to the pledge started by (the dashingly handsome) John Aravosis and Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog not to donate to the DNC until they started walking their talk. Or for that matter talking, since they have retreated from promises made last year before the election.And smartly they call the boycott "Don't Ask Don't Give"
Putting our money on the races with true progressives who aren't afraid is better than spreading it across the DNC or DSCC or DCCC. I'd give to Grayson (and have) sooner than I would ever give money to those other groups again.
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.
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.
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.