Category: Queer

I think both the country and the state of New York would be better off having at least one empty senatorial seat than have it continue to be occupied by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and I could easily add the chair of our senior senator, Charles Schumer, to the trash heap. We’d save the expense of both establishments and be well rid of the hypocrisies of pretend-democrats (small d). I think I’d rather fight an enemy who believes in truth in labelling.
Lesbians and gays who have any understanding of the world should be particularly angry. Both senators have been more than enthusiastic about the Bush wars and the administration’s assaults on our domestic liberties, and both have come up pretty empty when it comes to meaningful support for queers, although we could argue, as Bloggy does, that Clinton must be confronted with her political cynicism even more than Schumer. She has been remarkably successful in presenting herself as a hero to homos all over the country, in spite of the absence of any evidence. Wishful thinking, I imagine. Are we so desperate? Are we all political bottoms?

Hillary’s no friend of queers
I have never understood why so many homos seems to think Hillary Clinton is somehow on our side. She takes our money and shows up and gay fundraisers, but that’s the extent of her “support”. While running for the Senate, she said she would have voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
It has now been one week since Senator Santorum’s remarks, and as this article in the Gay City News reminds us, she hasn’t managed to make any statement whatsoever. As of today, there’s no statement on Mr. Santorum on her web site, but she has found the time to announce legislation to establish “National Purple Heart Recognition Day” and praise Schweizer Aircraft Corporation and its support of our troops.
Chuck Schumer took a week to come up with a statement, but there’s nothing on his web site. He lives in Park Slope, so he has plenty of queer neighbors!
You can contact our illustrious senators here: Clinton and Schumer. Hillary doesn’t have “Gay and Lesbian issues” in the topic choices, but Schumer does.
[from Bloggy, May 3]

Bloggy says gays for Bush are like Jews for Hitler.
What ignited this righteous ire? It started with just one dumb Republican.

Rick Santorum, Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, and No. 3 in the GOP leadership.

If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.
All of those things are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family. And that’s sort of where we are in today’s world, unfortunately. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn’t exist, in my opinion, in the United States Constitution.

But there was lots of help from John Partain, president of the Pennsylvania Log Cabin Republicans.

The discriminatory remarks made by Sen. Santorum clearly do not reflect the compassionate conservatism promised by our president.

And before these two lackeys made fools of themselves there was one queer cultural memory, of the biggest little fool of all, that will never be erased.

“Compassionate conservative” George W. Bush supported the Texas sodomy law when it came under legal challenge, calling it a “symbol of traditional values”.

He and she are not supposed to even be there, but they are. Moreover, like their comrades, most queers on duty in the Persian Gulf have lovers and partners at home anxious about their welfare, yet neither these soldiers and sailors nor those who most love them and now wait for them here can show that they care for each other.
The NYTimes yesterday:

At a time when thousands of Americans are planning for the return of their loved ones from the Middle East, there is a subset that remains largely invisible. The government’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which forbids gays in the military to be open about their sexual orientation, has caused an unknown number of couples to have their farewells behind closed doors, to plan similarly discreet homecomings and, in the time between, to resort to sterile or anonymous messages as a way of staying in touch.
With their hearts and lives in upheaval, the gay partners of troops in the gulf voice frustration that they have not received the benefits that married couples get, or the same level of emotional support.

What follows are excerpts from the stories of two couples. The first:

A woman in the Northeast, whose lesbian partner of eight years is an officer on a ship that has been at war, does not have access to family briefings offered at the nearby base on the status of the ship’s crew. But even if she did, “I wouldn’t be comfortable going there: I’d be worried about what questions would be asked of me.”
She is also troubled by the thought that if her partner was incapacitated, she would not be the first person contacted by the military. “We’ve got to navigate through this crazy system virtually alone,” she said.

The second story is that of a Washington lawyer, partner for five years of a soldier now deployed in the gulf, who describes the difficulties which cannot be overcome by their planning, their wills and mutual powers of attorney.

“It wasn’t a goodbye kiss at the base like I saw on TV for so many other people,” the lawyer said. “We’ve learned to make adjustments.”

Since the soldier departed for his current duty, his partner has felt left out, even among professional colleagues whose spouses are overseas, because he has to remain protective of his partner’s anonimity.

The lawyer was plainly eager to tell his story, but spent several minutes making sure that any account he gave a reporter would be scrubbed of details that could identify the partner.
In daily e-mail messages, the lawyer said, he must choose his words carefully, and avoid gender references. He does not end those messages with his name.
“I write it and I censor it as I go along,” he said. “But I say ‘I love you.'”

Our good friend Bill Dobbs writes us that there may be something in the old slogan, “Gay is Good,” coined by Dr. Frank Kameny in the summer of 1968.
A 20-year-old marine corps reservist in California is seeking conscientious objector status.

“My moral development has also been largely effected by the fact that I’m homosexual,” Funk said in his application.
“I believe that as a gay man, someone who is misunderstood by much of the general population, I have a great deal of experience with hatred and oppression. When someone is thrust into a situation of hate and oppression because of factors they have no control over, I believe they either react with hatred back, because they’ve experienced it, or they learn not to be that way towards others. I have adopted the latter reaction and stand with the oppressed people of the world who know that hate and oppression do not solve any problems.”

Dobbs email continues,

Funk’s pursuit of conscientious objector status has garnered a fair amount of ink in major newspapers; the coverage I’ve seen, including the New York Times, has failed to report that Funk is a same-sexer – missing not only a most important facet of his life but a major angle of the story.

Michelangelo Signorile reports that, in the midst of the real business of the military, its peak period, actual war, once again the Pentagon has decided that gays are too useful to be thrown out.

Rather than speedily drumming out gays based on rumors or overheard declarations – the essence of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy – the military in some cases even appears intent on proving service people aren’t gay, even after the individuals claim to be.

I’m mad as hell!
And it’s not just because my country is about to blow up millions of people on the other side of the world who wish us no harm. I’m a bit upset that my country has been stolen, from all of us, along with our civil rights and the remote hopes of people around the world that we might champion their own human rights.
For two years I’ve been depressed about not finding people who felt as strongly about these issues as I do and in whose company I felt comfortable and, well, amused. Queer activists, there’s nothing like ’em.
Tonight Barry and I spent two fantastic hours in the midst of such a community, and this week we will be with our people on the streets once again. New York now has a group of genuine queer activists organized against the war with Iraq. A lot of you will find you already know many of these people, and they will know a lot of you. Where that won’t be the case, all the more exciting for both sides!
Join tons of lesbians and gays under a big pink triangle boasting a particularly colorful peace symbol on Saturday, and also on the day the bombing begins, whether that’s before or after Saturday, when we meet to raise a huge, very visible ruckus in the massive antiwar march down Broadway.
On both days, bring big, fierce queer signage and all kinds of noisemakers (maybe earplugs should also be part of your ditty).
For logistical details, email me at james@jameswagner.com

Don’t be quiet.

JACKSONVILLE, AR — The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging officials at Jacksonville Junior High School over repeated punishment of a 14-year-old student for being openly gay. In a letter to school officials sent today, the ACLU demanded that the school stop violating the student’s rights and remove all unconstitutional disciplinary actions taken against him from his record by March 21 or face legal action.
In its letter, the ACLU said that school officials “outed” the gay student, Thomas McLaughlin, to his parents against his wishes and have since told him he must not discuss being gay while at school, forced him to read from the Bible and disciplined him for being open about his sexual orientation.
“My school forced me out of the closet when I should have been allowed to come out to my family on my own terms and when I thought it was the right time. And now the school has been trying to shove me back into it ever since,” McLaughlin said. “I’m through with being silenced, and I don’t want this happening to other gay kids at my school.”

The story. It sounds like fiction, but it groans under the burden of its truth, and it reminds us how far we still have to go before we can establish the basic rights of our sexualities, regardless of our ages. But years ago there would only be silence, and sometimes death. The story which came out of Arkansas yesterday would never have been heard. The victim would have had no defense. Today there is at least hope.
Another thought. First they outed him as a homo, then they persecuted him for being out as a homo. Oh, but it’s all not really important, since at 14 he’s only a child and he has no sexuality, right? But he’s not a child if he commits a major crime. Still, he is a child if he has sex, yet is not a child if he has a driving learner permit, is a child if he wants to drink alcohol. Any of this is still subject to change in different jurisdictions of course, and outside the U.S. there are entirely different stories. What’s the answer? I don’t think there is an answer which will satisfy every situation, every question. We might have to use our heads and begin to understand that we cannot impose our prejudices or even the huge weight of our statutes upon the truth represented by real human beings.

Some would say it’s about decorum. His.
I say it’s plain political hypocrisy and homophobia.
The man who claims to be a mayor for all New Yorkers says he will march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade again this year.

Parade organizers have long banned gays and lesbians from marching under their own banner, a policy that a federal judge upheld on the grounds of religious freedom 10 years ago.

Bloomberg excuses his insult to all New Yorkers by insisting that it’s not up to him to tell parade organizers who they can exclude.

“If I were running a parade, I’d run it differently,” he said. “But you know, [if] you’re invited to somebody’s house, you don’t walk in and tell them how to decorate, or what to serve or what the conversations should be.”

City Councilwoman Chis Quinn didn’t let this one go by:

“I actually find the mayor comparing discrimination and gay civil rights to upholstery, curtains and other decorations offensive,” she said. “That’s bizarre.”

Begging your pardon, Mayor sir, but last October you very dramatically boycotted another celebration of ethnic pride on grounds which you refuse to apply to this one. Columbus Day parade organizers vetoed your marching with two cast members of “The Sopranos,” complaining that the hit HBO show negatively portrays Italian-American life, so you treated the stars to lunch elsewhere while the parade was in progress. On the day before the big event you marched in a different Columbus Day Parade in the Bronx, boasting,

“It’s great to be in the Bronx and it’s great to be at a parade where you can march with all your friends,” Bloomberg said as he walked with local officials.

It’s obvious that you do not consider the New York area’s two million queers to be your friends, and it’s absolutely clear that they mean nothing compared to two millionaire television stars.
Hoping to offend only those who should be offended, I finish with a rhetorical question. The Mayor agrees with the atavistic professional Irish in New York who own the Parade, and one federal judge, that their precious rally is first and foremost a service of a religion whose cult members are forced to represent themselves as heterosexual. If their St. Patrick’s Day Parade is about the Catholic Church and exclusivley-procreative sex, why are they bellowing and guzzling and pissing in our streets instead of praying in church or fucking and making babies?
Ok, one more rant. None of the devotees seems to have had any problem with a still-married Mayor Giuliani participating in their rites three years ago by prominently marching with his mistress, Judith Nathan.

But he isn’t, and for that we are very happy. This story about Detective Francis Coppola and his firefighter partner Eddy appeared in The Hartford Courant this week. Maybe it’s a little hokey, but that’s part of its strength.

Divorced, Coppola discovered his soul mate in an old friend, Eddy, a firefighter separated from his own wife. After some fits and starts, they began a life together. Not an easy life, for it included all the tidal waters of a modern relationship. Eddy insisted they conceal it from most of the rest of the world.

Thanks to Dennis for the story tip.
For a face to go with the story, here’s one picture, and another.
____________________
After posting this, I searched for more sites with the story. I found stuff from the media in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, but not New York. Coppola lives and works in New York City, but he testified in favor of a same-sex marriage bill in Hartford, not Albany. There is no such bill being discussed in the New York legislature. For me however the story is not about marriage but rather the respect owed to human difference and human relationships. The states surrounding our own have for some time been way ahead of us on this measure civilization by most any standards of law.

It’s almost certainly not what you think. GAY SHAME is actually the provocative name of a beautiful group of radical queers in San Francisco which opposes the mainstreaming of the gay community, or what they call “the gay shame.” The Statemant of Purpose which appears on their website reads:

GAY SHAME is the radical alternative to consumerist “pride” crap. We are committed to a queer extravaganza that brings direct action to astounding levels of theatricality in order to expose the evildoers who use the sham of gay “pride” as a cover-up for their greed and misdeeds. We seek nothing less than a new queer activism that addresses issues of race, class, gender and sexuality, to counter the self-serving “values” of the gay mainstream. We are dedicated to fighting the rabid assimilationist monster of corporate gay “pride” with a devastating mobilization of queer brilliance. GAY SHAME is a celebration of resistance: all are welcome.

By Jupiter! Politically radical queers who actually show up in their finest frocks and skins for demonstrations! Their New York cousins should be mortified. GAY SHAME may have been born in Brooklyn, but in fact here in New York we’re still happy with the shame it now fights so nobly from the West Coast, or at least we aren’t making enough noise to indicate the contrary.
Yes, San Francisco has its own Chelsea in the Castro, but New York has no Mission. In San Francisco queer activism goes beyond issues like bashings or the police regulation of clubs, and even beyond issues directly related to the queer community.

Tonight [thursday] in front of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center in the Castro police attacked 40 members of the radical anti-capitalist queer group Gay Shame that gathered to protest the policies [attacking the homeless, among others] of Supervisor Gavin Newsom. Two lesbians were visibly bleeding from the mouth after being beaten by the San Francisco Police Department. An Indymedia correspondent was on the scene and witnessed the events. Gavin Newsome was ushered in the doors of the center by Police escort. Gays then tried to enter their own center to voice their opposition to Gavin’s policies. The police began beating back and blocking the door to the activists. Police pushed the activists into the oncoming traffic on Market Street and began aggressively hitting the queer activists some of whom were dressed in drag.

The internet shows gay conservatives, especially on the West Coast, going nuts over the audacity of their activist brothers and sisters. [Members of GAY SHAME were entering a closed $125 per person fundraiser at the public Center thursday night when they tried to speak to Newsome, who had earlier slipped by them without being sighted.]