One of Pittsburgh's most creative political bloggers put up a nugget this morning about former KDKA talk radio personality Mike Pintek using the word "homo" while hosting a program on PCNC. Pintek was discussing the use of South Park restrooms for sexual encounters among gay men.
According to Maria:
Mike Pintek was the host for Fridays' Get To The Point show on PCNC. During the discussion of a public restroom in South Park being listed on the Internet as a hot spot for gay men to meet, Pintek repeatedly used the word "homo." The show's panel of guests looked appalled at the use of that word, but sadly, none of them actually voiced an objection.
Now I am no fan of Mike Pintek. And while I didn't see the show, I'm fairly certain Pintek was pressing all the gay panic buttons -- we are sexual freaks, we like to have sex near children's areas (playgrounds, daycare, etc), blah, blah, friggin blah. Actually, I should say "gay men" not "we" because I don't think there have been many crackdowns on lesbians getting it on in the public toilets of Allegheny County. If lesbians listed their hookup sites on the internet, there would be a line of straight men three miles long outside those venues.
But I digress ... so yes, Mike Pintek is pretty much a bona fide idiot. And I've expressed my thoughts on the public sex spankings.
But the word "homo" is a favorite of mine. And I go outside the tribe all the time on this usage when I'm talking queer turkey with John McIntire on KDKA -- we homo everything. And he pushes all sorts of boundaries; last weekend, a woman complained about the phrase "carpet muncher" in a bit he aired. She's going to launch a hunger strike or withhold sex from her husband or something like that ... whatever.
SATIRE. It is satire.
Pintek was not being satirical. He was being a fucking dickwad. So good for Maria for calling him out.
Tune into KDKA Thursday evening when I'll join evening host John McIntire for an in depth look at Mary Cheney's book tour. Yes, Mary has a new book out "It's My Turn Now" which gives us an inside peek at the life of a traitorous Republican whore who happens to be a lesbian. John enjoys lesbian peeking, but prefers his traitorous whores to be apolitical so this might get interesting.
For someone who has been "out" for a decade, Mary still shows major signs of just-coming-out syndrome. It's what Jeff Gannon is going through, and what many if not most gays go through (especially conservative ones) when they first come to terms with being gay. They start being publicly gay, sometimes say good things, but more often than not their internalized homophobia comes slipping out.
A newbie's coming out experience is usually indicated by one or more of the following utterances:
I'm not one of those "activists." (I.e., I don't do anything to defend my rights, so I belittle people who do in order to make myself feel better.)
Sure I'm gay, but it's not all I am, I'm other things too. (I.e., I'm still a bit embarrassed about who I am and about the fact that I'm not an activist).
Why can't gay people be more "normal," like me? (Normal means hiding out in the suburbs.)
I'm not a single-issue voter. (I.e., I still vote Republican and the only issue I DON'T take account when voting is "me.")
Republicans don't really hate gay people, they just "have" to vote the way they do for politics. (I.e., I still vote Republican.)
Democrats, sure they vote FOR gay people, but they're not perfect either. (I.e., I know Republicans trash gays 90% of the time and the Dems help gays 90% of the time, but I still need to justify why I vote for a party that hates me.)
This is all over the blogosphere (the gaily decorated blogosphere I should add) and its amusing to no end reading the defensive crap popping up from the homos. Especially those who live in the suburbs and want to rationalize their privileged quasi-gay existance. Listen up -- watching LOGO and subscribing to The Advocate do not make you a gay advocate. It barely makes you gay. Get off your privileged ass and do something.
Thanks to the Post-Gazette, we now know to avoid Chocolate Celebrations and the Milkshake Factory on Southside.
It is the family business of siblings Chris and Dana Edwards, both of whom are proud members of the Bush Administration. Dana coordinates POTUS travel and Chris, who bears the title SPECIAL assistant to the President, oversees logistics for the press corp.
For some reason, a Post-Gazette editor decided to waste valuable feature space gushing over the Edwards candy store -White House connection . There's some inane reasoning that running a candy store prepares you to work in the White House. It is good that at least someone in the White House has run a successful business.
The best part is that Dana got her job because of her brother. It doesn't get more obvious that this Administration is not run by the most talented people, but by the most connected.
After annoying us with some pathetic jokes about Chris buying her a pearl necklace and how much money they make (poor Dana makes less -- imagine a woman making less!), the PG gives us this total line of garbage:
Both display the unswerving loyalty to the administration that George and Laura Bush seem to inspire in many of their young staffers. In interviews, Chris continually tried to turn the conversation about his own family back to how the president's emphasis on family inspires him.
The PG thinks its news that two bright young Pittsburghers have been hoodswinked by the "family value" lies dripping out of the White House. Or, more likely, that Dana and Chris are young, upwardly-mobile, heterosexual, white adults who are willing to trade every bit of decency and intelligence they may posess for their own personal advancement and career trajectories. Chris and Dana are perfect examples of privileged hypocrites who don't give a flying fig about Pittsburgh families.
All the while selling us chocolate. And milkshakes.
Thus Pittsburgh queers and allies, you are duly warned that Chocolate Celebrations and the Milkshare Factory are owned by traitors who contribute to the Administration that wants to strip us of every civil right we deserve.
Last night, we took a drive into Regent Square to hear singer/songwriter Eve Goodman perform at the Square Cafe.
She's great. We heard about her performance through a local Queer Events email list and thought it sounded like a nice evening. So off we drove. It was well worth the $98.34 in gas (kidding). :-)
Eve is very personable and her music was thoughtful and entertaining. I enjoy live music somewhat, but get kind of bored quickly as my attention wanders. Especially when the artists performs 17 monotonous songs about their inner thoughts on, well, anything.
Eve ain't like that. Her introspection felt universal, not self-centered. She has some delightful numbers on her partner's 94 year old grandmother and two best buddies, Big Dog and Little Wag. Her parents were in attendance which made it just seem somehow more cool.
Laura is defintely the musical one in the family. I enjoy music, but sitting in a smoke filled club (or standing) surrounded by self-styled hipsters listening to someone whine about their life is not my idea of a good time. The environment destroys any connection I may feel with the performer. Hence, the Square Cafe is perfect -- no smoke, lots of seats and really delish hummus.
Check out Eve's website for her performance schedule. You'll be happy you did.
Here's a sad fact: Russian Orthdox Catholics are working in unity with
skinheads to oppose gay rights.
On Sunday
police had to hold back a crowd of bottle-tossing skinheads and Bible-
clutching church folks who were protesting a gay event at a local club.
Not to be outdone by the Christian-Skinhead connection, Russian Muslims are
threatening to kill gays if they proceed with plans to celebrate Pride.
PrideFest is scheduled for May 26 and 27 in Moscow. If the city bans the
event, organizers plan to take the matter to the European Court of Human
Rights.
Sounds like a crowd where Fred Phelps would feel right at home.
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents is pleased to welcome our newest
correspondent Shelly. We've known Shelly for several years -- she is very
active in the local LGBT community. Her writing, you will find, is
articulate, insightful and from a slightly different perspective than Ledcat
and me.
If you are not at the peace rally Friday night, you should be glued to your television watching one of our 2 favorite political junkies duke it out with WQED's Off Q panelists.. These include Alan Cox, Fred Honsberger and Ruth Ann Dailey.
WQED Friday, March 24, 7:30 PM
And, if you do make it to the rally, you can catch David on a repeat at 11:30 PM
Sunday evening's edition of 60 Minutes included Lesley Stah's report "The Science of Sexual Orientation" in which she explores recent research into sexual orientation.
Today, scientists are looking at genes, environment, brain structure and hormones. There is one area of consensus: that homosexuality involves more than just sexual behavior; it?s physiological.
The show interviewed two sets of male twins to explore issues of nuture vs nature. While overall the piece is interesting, I was somewhat disturbed by how close Stahl danced to the line of stereotyping, such as when she tried to identify gay mannerisms in an attempt to understand how gay men are "feminized" physiologically.
I was also somewhat disappointed that Stahl neglected to clarify sexual orientation from gender identity. One of the younger male twins is very "girly" and clearly said he is like a girl, even that he thought he was a girl in the womb but became a boy b/c his mother preferred boys.
Lesley, wanting to be a girl is not the same thing as being gay.
Other nuggets ...
* Sexual orientation may be more closely connected with hormones than genetics.
* The more older brothers a man has, the greater his chance of being gay.
