I found this while browsing the Post-Gazette website.  Since the writer LA Johnson does A LOT of homosexual themed stories, I am presuming that the Post-Gazette was being clumsy by using "spouses" instead of "partners"    I could be wrong but hey -- let's give it a shot anyway .... all you homo spouses who fit this bill, give 'em a call.

Seeking Your Help: Spouses and friends

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Do you and your spouse have mostly couples as friends or do you and your spouse have separate, individual friends? Has it changed over time? What works well for you? What are some of the pitfalls? If you're interested in discussing this topic for a future story, contact L.A. Johnson at Ljohnson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3903. Be sure to leave your name and day-time phone number.

Aside from the myriad of letters disputing the PG's review of An Inconvenient Truth and those from the stalwart "Great Americans" defending the Cheesesteak Bigot, a few homosexual themed letters appear ...

First, Martha Perego of Oakland wants to give us homos our very own second class status word or term to describe our unions.  Her rational? No one objects to the usage of fraternity or sorority.  No one?  Huh.  Cause I do.  Of course, I'm more concerned about the elitism, snobbery, hazing, alcohol poisoning, date raping, exclusivity ...oh and that "frat boy" mentality that pervades adult life like stink on a dog. 

Bless her two-tiered little heart, she's willing to permit us the same social and financial benefits.  I'm not sure Martha has been reading up on all the latest homo-hitchin' up news b/c what she's describing is called a civil union.  And our good friends over at the AFA of PA are onto that approach. 

Next up is Bob Poropatich of Stanton Heights writing in response to the Post-Gazette's critique of the Pride Theate Festival.  (This is the prancing queens part of the post).  Bob takes affront at the PG's implication that the festival is too straight and minus the prancing queens.  He compares the lack of drag queens and lisping homos to Fiddler on the Roof:

To match her ignorance one could say that if you go to see "Fiddler on the Roof," you won't see any jewelers, lawyers or Park Avenue doctors either.

This is what the Post-Gazette actually said:

But for a festival that purportedly spotlights GLBT themes, the plays are pretty, well, straight. You'd think there might be a few theatrical conventions challenged, but there aren't, and bisexual and transsexual/gender characters are conspicuously absent.

I didn't attend the festival so I cannot comment.  But the lack of bisexual and transgendered characters is a common motif in most mainstream gay events, organizations, issues, causes, etc.  And the further we strive to demonstrate how normal we are (not necessarily a bad thing) the more likely we are to turn our backs on those who don't fit in quite so easily.  The Post-Gazette may have picked up on that. 

The trick, Bob, is that we get caught up in normalizing our community to a heterosexual ideal.  Perhaps we should focus our time, talent and art on how HUMAN we are regardless of where we fall in the alphabet soup acronyms. 

h/t Fact-esque

Sarah MacLachlan gave away the $150,000 production video for her new video for the single "World on Fire" and made a video for $15.00.  The video shows the many cool things she was able to do with the money to help people living in poverty.  And its uplifting, not preachy.  Just setting a good example ...

The world's on fire and
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
(Try and bring my share)
I try to bring more
More than I can handle
(Bring it to the table)
Bring what I am able

The more we take, the less we become
A fortune of one that means less for some

You gotta love Mike Seate, columnist for the Tribune-Review.  No matter how carefully he crafts his essentially pro-homo thoughts, he always gets a little jab in there -- just enough to remind us that he is a heterosexual middle class male after all.  For the most part, they are benign and usually amusing.  But I digress ...

Yesterday, Seate took a stab at the gay marriage amendmen furor.  His conclusion?  Gay marriage happens everywhere but the courts and pretty soon state governments will recognize that. 

And that homosexuals are scapegoats right now. 

A point that the wise and wondrous Post-Gazette editorial board glossed over in their passive missive yesterday.

It's an interesting coincidence that as we pass 39 years of legally sanctioned interracial marriage, the Pennsylvania state legislature has been busy approving an amendment that would ban gay marriage.

From Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, there are gay and lesbian couples who've adopted children, cohabited like legally married couples and even enjoyed health benefits from progressive employers. They continue living their lives as married couples even while our lawmakers play to bigoted voters by passing meaningless anti-gay marriage laws.

And he connects gay civil rights with the larger struggle for civil rights (here's the little sparky jab):

Though several lawmakers throughout the union staged public tantrums about having to legalize interracial marriages back in 1967, their fears of a ruined, lawless society never materialized. By the 1990 U.S. Census, one in 33 Americans identified themselves as being of mixed race heritage. By 1995, that number had risen to one in 26.

Better yet, interracial marriage has produced people as stunningly beautiful as Paula Abdul and Shakira, which even the most ardent segregationist has to agree is a positive development.

Ah, Mike.  Your not so bad for a breeder yourself.

Join members of the local trans community and their allies to celebrate, commemorate and advocate for trans-inclusion within progressive, queer and feminist communities.

Here's a bit o'background for those of you asking what the heck camp trans is about.  Click to go the Camp Trans website.

Camp Trans is an annual gathering of trans people and their allies in Michigan with the intent of:

Protesting the exclusion of trans women from women-only spaces, most notably the Michigan Womyn?s Music Festival;

Building a trans-inclusive community that is welcoming and safe for all;

Empowering the next generation of activists to fight for trans issues locally through organizer trainings, workshops, and leadership development; and

Advocating for the inclusion of trans issues in progressive, queer, and feminist movements by building coalitions with supportive organizations and bringing attention to local campaigns.

This is a divisive issue here in my little local gay women's circle.  The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is hallowed ground among some women.  Even the Correspondents don't see eye to eye on this issue.  But I'm writing this post so I'm gonna tell you what I think.

I won't set foot at the Womyn's Festival as long as they exclude transwomen, genderqueer women and so forth.  Don't get me wrong -- I bet Michigan is a wonderful experience and even though I prefer to camp with AC, television and showers, I'd probably enjoy the opportunity participate.  But I can't do it.  It seems wrong in 2006 to be having these kinds of divisive battles and inconsistent with the emergence of an entire generation of queer homosexuals.  Its like shopping at Wal-Mart which the Correspondents never ever do.  I'm not willing to trade the welfare of hundreds of thousands of employees and their families to save $$ on my dog food. 

And I don't want to trade on my white/lesbian/middle class privilege to go to a music festival -- it would feel very artificial b/c there's at least 200 women who cannot attend sitting up the road. I'd rather use that privilege to do something good for my community instead of just doing something good for my personal enjoyment.  Maybe I really am too much of a social worker after all.  Whatever. 

So mark your calendars for Friday, July 21 and head over to The Quiet Storm to show your support for all women in our community. 

There's  much to blog about today, but I'll start with PrideFest which was really nice this year.  Organizers estimate that 6,500 people attended.  I can tell you it was very crowded and there were more vendors than ever before.

 This is the first year I've seen the parade from the beginning where we drove to catch the opening remarks of Governor Ed Rendell.  His comments about legislative attacks on homosexuality and wingnuts using our identitites to polarize and divide the Commonwealth were very well received.  And, as promised, he did say "Ladies, Start Your Engines" to the dykes on bikes.  Which I must admit was pretty cool. 

He also openly endorsed gay marriage.  Openly.  Not second-class citizenship.  Not separate, but equal.  Not telling us to go make the environment safer for him to speak out on our behalf. 

The parade was larger than ever and filled with happy homo-lovin' people.  I heard from others that Councilwoman Tonya Payne marched in the parde which makes her the coolest City Councilperson going.  The others showed up at the festival, but we think that there's something about being in the parade -- about actively marching for community pride ---- that distinguishes our supporters from those who just talk to us.  

We then drove down to the festival on the North Shore (my previously broken foot cannot handle two marches in two days).  The festival was great.  We arrived in time for the opening comments and to hear the political guests:  our community's greatest champion -- State Representative Dan Frankel; City Councilman Bill Peduto, Doug Shields and Jim Motznik; Allegheny County's Valerie McDonald and Councilman  Rich Fitzgerald.  Frankel was eloquent and ferocious as always.  Valerie spoke movingly about her family's African-American pride and made wonderful connections between the civil rights struggles of all minorities.  Motznik told George Bush to kiss his ass which drew a mighty response.  Shields and Peduto lived up to expectations with their enthusiastic support.  And it was great to see a County Councilman there.  I don't know much about Rich Fitzgerald, but my Councilwoman wasn't there so I'm gonna look him up.

All these fine and lovely people showed up to support our celebration, the second largest gathering of the LGBT community in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  What's striking is who was NOT there, namely three specific people:  Bob Casey, Dan Onorato and Bob O'Connor.  

I heard it everywhere yesterday.  How come Bob Casey didn't show up?

Bob Casey blew it.  He is under fire for being too moderate and there are many people in the LGBT community who view his support with skepticism and dismay.  There are many people who don't plan to vote at all.  He didn't attend the recent national gay democrats convention and he didn't show up for this.  So in our opinion this was a perfect opportunity for him to reach out to the everyday homosexuals, not just those who can afford $100 plate HRC dinners.   This was his chance to show up that he values and respects our families, our contributions, our lives.  But he didn't show up.  Sending interns with stickers doesn't cut it. 

Even the local Democrat top dogs didn't bother to show up.  Both Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and City of Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor had committed to attend and speak with the crowd.  Both blew us off.  At the very least it would have made the absence of the Democratic nominee for Senator in the race against our greatest foe a bit more palatable if the local boys had come in his stead. 

What the hell is that about?  Does our community lack the political muscle to turn out these guys? I fully expect to get a Rovian spin from the Steel-City folks who on KDKA radio openly approved of Howard Dean's 700 Club outreach, but there's very little you can do to convince me that NONE of these guys could show up.

Who else wasn't there? 

State Senator Wayne Fontana in whose district this was held and whose staff hasn't  acknowledged my correspondence asking if he would attend. 

US Congressman Mike Doyle.

Any Allegheny County Democrats running for office.  The only candidate who made this a priority was running for office in Butler County (I missed his name but I'll get it and post it b/c he deserves the props).  The list goes on of course. 

Everyone will have a good reason to offer, but I suspect if it were an event put on by a union, senior citizens, African-Americans or other groups they would have found a way to be there.  Laura summed it up very well "They don't respect us enough to show up."

I wonder if they respect our votes and our financial support?

As for media coverage, I was disappointed with KDKA's typical exploitive coverage.  On the 11 o'clock news, they covered the Epilepsy Run right before us and the camera showed a wide range of people in the race:  adults, families, people with strollers, dogs, wheelchairs, scooters, couples, singles, friends, etc.  When it came to PrideFest, they showed two shots of anyone who wasn't a drag queen and one shot of Governor Rendell.  The text was fine, but it was obvious that the KDKA news team puts about as much effort as FOX into fair and balanced coverage of the LGBT community. 

On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette got it REALLY right this year.  Front page of the region section with a very well-done article contextualizing PrideFest with the marriage debate.  They even worked in "Ladies start your engines."

Wearing "Just married in Canada" T-shirts and identical gold wedding rings, Maria and Beth Kramer, of Ross, were on a motorcycle at the start of the gay community's Pride March, which Gov. Ed Rendell kicked off Downtown yesterday with "Ladies, start your engines!"

A few minutes earlier, the governor had brought the couple, who married in Stratford, Ontario, in April, on stage.

"Some day I hope that shirt says 'Just married in Pennsylvania,' " he said, to a roar of approval from the crowd.

The Tribune-Review had nothing.  Perhaps our quasi-buddy and Trib columnist Mike Seate will weigh in this week.  I didn't see the news on WTAE or WPXI, but there's nothing on their websites under local news. 

We'll weigh in on specific aspects of Pride over the coming week.  I need an entire post for the Dyke March itself.  And I want to revisit the queer v gay issue.

Let us know what you think.

I've still got this really nasty taste in my mouth from the Mary Cheney interview.

So I'm trying to figure out this MySpace thing b/c someone from the Steel Queer N'At collective posted my post about their performance ... there.  That's a horrid sentence.  But you get the point.  Anyway, I'm trying to figure it out and I notice that one of the acts from the collective is performing this Friday at Quiet Storm.

They are Thrive, three poets The Black Ass Bombshell..aka Vanessa German, Sweet Thunda aka Bekazela Mguni and Savannah Montana..aka Becca Cooper

We were very impressed by their acts.  The Black Ass Bombshell did this wicked piece about Jorge and I was so enthralled by their outfits that it took me at least two minutes to realize who Jorge was.  Then tonight I discover that Vanessa German is the woman who won the national SLAMBUSH contest.  And I think I heard her at the Peace Rally in 2005.  Where I was very impressed but it ended up I had been marching on a broken foot all along so the incredible pain sort of edged everything else out.  That's right -- I marched for peace on a broken foot. Then I went to Starbucks. 

So it all sort of swirls together to prompt me to go to The Quiet Storm this Friday at 8 PM to see Thrive perform en masse.  After marching for dykes on a never really gonna heal from being broken foot.  Then I'll march for Pride Awareness on that same foot. 

Thank god my father wants to spend Father's Day at the movies.  At least there'll be no marching. 

I would greatly appreciate if there could be a blogging for peace/equality/healthy feet/Starbucks event in the near future. 

7:01 PM  ------- Live tonight on KDKA, John McIntire talks with Mary Cheney for the lesbian perspective on the Ben Roethlisberger situation .... tune into 1020 AM ....

7:15 PM -------- Mary Cheney's book has sold less than 6,000 copies since its May debut according to OnePageQ.

7:16 PM -------- Marriage amendment "its a bad idea, how about that?" says Mary.

7:17 PM -------- She sounds like she's chewing on a duck.  She came "darn close to quitting."  She was troubled working for George Bush, but she stayed for Daddy.  He thinks discrimination should be left to the states.  She also stayed b/c terrorists will hurt our country so she didn't have the luxury to be concerned about same sex marriage. 

7:20 PM --------

7:23 PM -- ----- President Bush has at least tried to have a civil discussion around this. 

7:25 PM ---------  President Bush wakes up every morning thinking "what am I going to do to keep this country safe?"  Just like her Dad. 

7:27 PM --------- "People can look at it that way and its a valid opinion.  People can look at it another way and its a valid opinion."   WTF?

7:29 PM ---------- John tosses gay rights softballs to Mary Cheney. She is possibly the most boring controversial guest he's ever had on the air.

7:29 PM ---------- The Western state of mind.  People treat people as individuals.  Even gays.  Or poor people.  Maybe even poor black gay people.

7:30 PM ---------- KDKA is going to my hometown West Mifflin this week.  Our former police chief faces more than 19 counts of drug charges.  Its a great town. 

7:32 PM ---------- Mary's partner Heather is a nice person who doesn't bitch slap people.  She's supportive blah, blah, blah. 

7:34 PM ---------- Parents come to her book signings and her book helps them deal with having a gay child.  Or they are happy that she says nice things about her parents.  Because people don't do that these days.

7:35 PM ---------- We have purposeful and decisive leadership in Iraq.  They've held 3 elections.  A cabinet has been named.  We got the big one.  But there are still a few insurgents.  John: "and 100,000 innocent civilians are dead."   Mary: "give me a name to verify that."

7:40 PM ------I try to call and the phone rings incesssantly.

7:41 PM ------ A woman calls her on working for the Coors family and reaching out to gays for a conservative company.  Mary takes credit for making the entire Fortune 500 gay friendly.

7:43 PM ------- NOW ITS MY TURN! Mary is making a difference by being open about who she is.  Iraqi gays have more important thiings to worry about than being gay. Then I got cut off.  Oh well ....

7:45 PM ------- I should have listened to my gut and watched the rerun of Friends and Seinfeld.  Or cleaned the cat litter.  I can't believe I got suckered into calling.  Note:  I allowed myself to get suckered -- I was not the sucking victim of any one particular person.

7:47 PM -------  Her goal was to write a book that she could be proud of and sell a few copies.  Pittsburgh is not on the book signing list.

*************************************

Overall, this was not very exciting.  She had nothing noteworthy to say about gay issues.  She did show some spunk defending the Iraq war, but has this weird delusion that the President wakes up every day thinking how to keep America safe.  I think Paris Hilton has more insight into the life of the typical American homo than Mary Cheney.  Ah well ... kudos to John for putting her on the air.   

This past Friday, we accepted an invitation to catch the local performance of "The Hardest Question Ever," a puppet show performance art piece examining the societal role in creating and punishing violence through the prism of incarceration.  The show was put together by Indicator Species, a Pittsburgh based collective of teachers, artists and activists who work on prison issues. 

The show opened with live music from Ricardo who took our collective breath away.  His acoustic guitar performance and lyrics were just stunning.  I hunted him down at the end and ordered him to add us to his email list.  :-)     He told us he'd be performing live soon so we'll keep you informed.

The show itself was a 1/2 hour mixture of live action, puppets, and music.  I was skeptical at first as I always am when surrounded by a crowd of seemingly preternaturally thin people who made me feel incredibly mainstream .... one of the nightmare moments when someone points at you and yells "She's wearing Mom jeans" while everyone laughs.  Then someone's actual mom sat down in front of us with her two staunch suburbanite lady friends and I felt a the comforting shift back to slightly left of center.  Whew.  As soon as the group took the stage, all sense of discomfort fell away and I merged right into a crowd waiting to be taught.

The stage included a life-sized prison cell that is used for solidary confinement.  The walls were constructed from thousands of letters the artists had received through their books for prisoners program Book 'Em, a project of the Thomas Merton Center.  The show included 4 acts reconciling the horror of crime with the horror of prison.  Through live narration of cases based on the real life experiences of the artists, the show explores the complicated nature of something mainstream media and politics tends to oversimplify -- delving into the gray.  One case involved a former friend and comrade who had raped and murdered a woman -- the dialogue was a refreshing examination of all that had come before. 

I have to give the Indicator Species credit -- they really did ask the hardest questions.  When someone you know has raped and murdered, what does that mean for our own complicity in creating a violent society?  To simply say that you could not have physically prevented the crime is not enough of an answer.  What about all that came before -- at what point can we as a society prevent any crime?  And how does the way we treat our criminals reflect back on our values? 

"The cracks I fell through were the indifference of the people around me."

Indicator Species will be taking their show on the road for a two month tour.  For more details on upcoming Pittsburgh performances fedup@riseup.net or trust_the_shadow@yahoo.com

It was a good show -- thoughtful, earnest and personal.  It was obvious that the members of the collective put a huge investment of their personal stories, fears, hopes, and values into this show.  That investment touched me from the first chord and lifted me over any bumps in the road.  I would see this again when it returns to Pittsburgh.  And I'm going through my books to donate to the program.