Ledcat has been traveling this week, so tonight I'm frantically doing all the chores I promised would be completed for her return tomorrow. So I've got my brand new copy of "Pride & Prejudice" (BBC version of course) playing the DVD player while I dust and sweep and sort the accumulation of stuff that does plague any household.
The good news is that the house next door has sold to a delightful man who owns a dog and is very pleasing. Hallelujah! We are quite thrilled here at Lesbian Central. You can never have too many neighbors with dogs.
Here's some snippets from the gayiverse.
From Pam's House Blend comes word that Elizabeth Edwards will be speaking at the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club Pride Breakfast this weekend in San Francisco. Pam determines that this is a huge illustration of how things have changed in the Presidential race. Last time around, mad scramble to avoid us. This time, pancakes in San Francisco. Let's see how that plays out.
Jerusalem Pride drew over 2,000 participants. And at least one bomb carried by an Orthodox Jewish man. Huh.
Hey, that reminds me ... the Munchkins are getting a star on the Walk of Fame. Many of them are like 70 years old, but they plan to be there. I heard in on Fresh Air, so you know its gotta be true.
Elizabeth just rejected Mr. Darcy's proposal. I'm such a girl.
Oh those wacky Polish children's rights watchers .... always a day behind and a dollar short. Remeber back in 1999 when Jerry Falwell deemed Teletubbie Tinky Winky a homo because he carried a purse (TW is the purple one)? Now Ewa Sowinski is on the same bandwagon. Well, she way until apparently someone reminder her of 1999 so she's off again.
"I noticed that he has a purse, but I didn't realize he's a boy. At first I thought that must be a bother for him," Sowinska told the magazine in an interview her office approved before publication. "Later I learned that there could be some hidden homosexual undertones."
Sowinska is a member of the League of Polish Families party, which is militantly anti-gay rights and anti-abortion. The party is a junior member in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Spokespeople from Sowinska's office have confirmed that they will not ask psychologists to examine the character.
Kacszynski has famously said, ""It's not in the interests of any society to increase the number of homosexuals, that's obvious."
I have a recurring dream that my father and I are on a long highway and we see a bridge that says "This way to Poland" and another exit that says "This way to France." For some reason, I always want to go to Poland. My father goes to France anyway. For the record, as a lesbian and a woman, I'd much rather go to France. Thank goodness for my Dad.
The Post-Gazette reports that local gay business owner and community advocate, Jay Bernard, has passed away. Jay and his business partner Bill Stanhope owned Jay Design in Lawrenceville. Jay was the founder of the Boys of Lawrenceville "a benevolent organization of gay men" and the author of a monthly column about pet adoption. I've heard of Jay, but did not have the opportunity to meet him. Jay's company donated some items to an event I am hosting tonight for my day-job. I will be thinking of him when we raffle off those items. God speed.
The Presbyterian debate over gay marriage continues. From the PG:
A regional Presbyterian court's decision yesterday upheld Pittsburgh Presbytery's ban on gay marriage ceremonies, and reiterated the national church's stance that ordination requires chastity in singleness or fidelity in heterosexual marriage.
But the language was such that both sides of the local debate regarding the ban on actively gay clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) found aspects of the ruling acceptable.
Several Middle Eastern governments have filters in place to prevent their citizens from accessing gay and lesbian sites.
Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen had the strictest social-filtering practices, blocking pornography, gambling and gay and lesbian sites.
That's interesting. I usually have at least one IP address a day based in those very countries that visits my site, usually with a keyword search for "hot lesbians" or "lesbian photos" or "naked lesbians." Once it was "nudie lesbians." I chalk that up to a translation issue. Someone is getting through that filter.
Meanwhile, today's Trib runs this nice little affirmation of Falwell from the self-described "mean girl" Ann Coulter:
Let me be the first to say: I ALWAYS agreed with the Rev. Falwell.
Coulter sets the record "straight" on Tinky Winky's sexual orientation and explains why he didn't go far enough identifying who was responsible for 9/11 (hint: he's a Kennedy).
Meanwhile, South African churches get the go ahead to perform same-sex marriages.
Reports say that 5,000 people turned out for the Warsaw gay rights parade in spite of government sponsored crackdowns. Anti-gay crusaders want to ban gay propaganda in the schools. Does that sound familiar?
And, closer to home, Kent State has installed a "gender neutral" bathroom to accomodate transgender male and female students. Nearby Oberlin has a residence hall specifically for transgender students. The times they are a changin'.
LGBT groups in more than 50 countries will participate in the initiative, which was launched in 2005 to mark the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of disorders.
I work for a mental health provider that just extended health insurance coverage to employees in domestic partnerships. So an important day to commemorate say the lesbians.
In conjunction, Human Rights Watch has identified the worst offenders in the homophobic Hall of Shame:
"This `hall of shame' does not claim to include the worst offenders, but it highlights leaders who have lent their authority to denying basic human rights," said Scott Long... "Bush and Pope Benedict both speak of human dignity, but their homophobic words and actions undermine families and endanger health."
Top on the list? Pope Benedict XVI for undermining families. Then comes President George Bush for jeopardizing public health with his abstinence only programs. Next is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for violating the right to privacy on a widespread scale. Poland and the Philippines are represented as well.
Interesting day to be a gay Catholic American (from Poland?).
Pam's House Blend contributor Ken from Mississippi has a nice little piece on the activism of coming out.
As I've said many times here at the little coffeehouse, the most radical, powerful bit of activism that we can do as LGBT citizens is to come out of the closet, live openly. The power to effect change and acceptance is to let your friends, family, work colleagues and people see that our lives are as normal and mundane as theirs, and that there is nothing to fear by expanding their world view to include a more diverse view of people.
Also from Pam, John McCain calls gay members of the military an "intolerable risk." Sigh.
This weekend is the first regional meeting of the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Africa. According to Pink News out of the UK, 38 African nations - all members of the United Nation -criminalize consensual same sex activity.
There's a report on PageOneQ that an Iraqi gay man was beaten and tortured by Iraqi police - for being gay - while Americans were present. For being gay.
The EU's Court of Human Rights has condemned the ruling that banned the Warsaw Gay Pride festival, saying it violated the EU Human Rights Charter. Warsaw hasn't been kind to Gay Pride as we've reported before.
And you've probably heard that Rosie O'Donnell made Time's list of the 100 Most Influential People. W did not make the list. Sadly, Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Anglican "Hate the Homo" theological tradition made the list. That's really scary.
The absurd ...a father is suing an Arkansas library because his sons "stumbled across" the Whole Lesbian Sex Book which disturbed them greatly. I believe the quote is that they had two sleepless nights at his house. Hmm ...
The ridiculous ...Rudy Guiliani does a big and very public flipflop on civil unions. In case you weren't keeping track, he was for them before he was against them. Pam's House Blend has the audiotape of Rudy discussing his "for them" stance back in 2003. When he wasn't running for President and courting the fundies.
CONCORD, N.H. -- The Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, says he and his partner of 18 years will be among the couples taking advantage of New Hampshire's soon-to-be-signed civil unions law.
I'm not even going to spoil the joy of their announcement by contemplating how Bishop Duncan and Archbishop Akinola must be spinning in their sanctuaries ...
Speaking of Nigeria ...a lesbian who married four women (as in took them as her wives, not performed the ceremony) has gone in hiding because she's facing imprisonment.
The ugly ...Poland. Censured by the EU for promoting homophobia, the Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski is speaking out in favor of repressive school based legislation that would make homosexual propaganda illegal. Here's the best part courtesy of Europe's gay news service:
"Nobody is limiting gay rights in Poland," Mr Kaczynski said.
"However, if we're talking about not having homosexual propaganda in Polish schools, I fully agree with those who feel this way.
"Such propaganda should not be in schools; it definitely doesn't serve youth well.
"It's not in the interests of any society to increase the number of homosexuals, that's obvious."
Not limiting gay rights indeed. I'm planning my trip to Poland right now.
"In the past three months, more than 30 gays have been executed in Baghdad. The bodies have been found tortured, mutilated - sometimes with signs of rape," said Mustafa Salim, spokesman for the Rainbow for Life Organisation (RLO), a Baghdad-based gay rights NGO.
"Notes were found near some of the bodies with messages saying that this is going to be the fate for any Muslim who denies the Islamic religion," Salim added.
"The gay community continues to be subjected to systematic terror by Shia militias, especially the Mahdy Army controlled by the religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr. The government of Iraq is refusing to offer protection," he added.
In an interview, one member of the Mahdy Army, Ali Hassany, said that the militia will target Iraq's gays and lesbians. "They deserve death. Those people are an embarrassment to our society. Killing such people is a job for their families, but if they cannot do so by their own hands, we will do it," Hassany said.
Pam's blogger Radical Russ has this to add:
The difference between the Mahdi Army and the Family Research Council? The Mahdi Army knows they can get away with it.
Anyone surprised? On the one hand, it makes me appreciate the many freedoms I have as a queer woman living in the United States of America. On the other hand, it makes me fear the devastation if the Chrisot-fascists come to power and turn us completely into a theocracy. Our Christian allies can only protect us so much.
We here at Lesbian Central are pleased that our good friend and all-around groovy middle aged white guy John McIntire wants to expand his repetoire of gay jokes beyond the phrase "butt fuck." He now seems hung up on kissing (lesbian kissing, Snickers eatin' men kissing, Ravenstahl's ass kissing ...) but that's movement in the right direction. We hope one day soon he'll be able to get through an entire broadcast without sexualizing lesbians for his own sordid pleasure. We doubt it, but one can always hope. :-)
Now for the real homo round up. Not the City of Pittsburgh Police on a Friday night in Schenley Park homo round up.
Check out Pam's House Blend on DOMA stances of the assorted Presidential candidates.
Why the statement "I support civil unions" is meaningless
All of this nonsense is why I've been saying that the Dem presidential candidates have an obligation to voters to define what they mean when they toss out "I support civil unions" as a salve to gays. Asking for clarity, commitment and well-thought-out answers on the matter is not flogging the issue. There is a morass of separate-but-unequal legislation being debated and amendments voted on "by the people" right now.
Meanwhile, the Anglican and Episcopal chuch struggles to find unity in the midst of turmoil over gay and female ordination among other social justice issues.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski told Ireland that homosexuality will lead to the destruction of the human race. However, he is willing to refrain from forcing people into therapy as long as they don't promote their orientation. The Irish were not impressed.
Two lesbians were arrested for a non-violent protest at the Focus on the Family headquarters. Big Daddy Dobson was not available for comment.
The US Air Force considered developing a "gay conversion" chemical weapon in the mid-nineties. Because apparently turning your opponents gay somehow makes them less effective in the battlefield.
And, finally a shout out to another homo-lovin comedian, Sarah Silverman who was quoted in Out thus:
"The people -- both the Republicans and the pussy Democrats -- that won't stand up for gay rights have made the idea of marriage ugly to me."
Abuja) The National Assembly held public hearings Wednesday on a bill to ban gay marriage and criminalize virtually all forms of gay expression in Nigeria.
The bill lays down penalties of up to five years for anyone watching or reading material deemed to be pro-gay either in public or in their own homes, and even would forbids meetings between two gay people.
In part, the proposed bill reads:
``Any person who is involved in the registration of gay clubs, societies and organizations, sustenance, procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same sex amorous relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a term of five years imprisonment.''
Backers of the legislation said gay acts, which are already illegal in Nigeria, run counter to cultural and religious mores in the deeply traditional West African country.
Officials expect a vote before April. Here's all of our posts on this issue.
Timing is everything because this week a conference of Anglican worldwide leaders meets to try and figure out what to do about all the furor over ordaining queers and women. Anglican leader Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria is a proponent of the Nigerian legislation AND breaking ties with the American Episcopal church.
And who is one his very biggest fans? Pittsburgh's own Bishop Duncan, a staunch proponent of the Archbishop. Duncan famously claims that opposition to the legislation is colonialist.
A bloodthirsty homophobic Ugandan government has stood quietly by while the President's brother outs gays, lesbians and bisexuals in an attempt to rid the nation of the sin of homosexuality.
Under the headline, ?Kampala?s Notorious Lesbians Unearthed?, the sleazy tabloid published a photo of two very beautiful unnamed women embracing at a party.
The article urged readers to phone the newspaper with details of any lesbians they know:
?To rid our motherland of the deadly vice (lesbianism), we are committed to exposing all the lesbos in the city. Send more names us (sic) the name and occupation of the lesbin (sic) in your neighbourhood and we shall shame her,? Red Pepper urged.
They previously outed 40 gay and bisexual men. Many are now in hiding for fear of their lives. Others have been turned away from their families, lost their jobs and homes and been shunned by their communities.
Modern day witch hunts.
This is the very sort of thing we joke about here in the US along with reeducation camps, forced sham marriages, etc. It seems so impossible.
But then you read that the executive director of the NJ State Democratic Committee (yes DEMOCRATIC) referred to a transgender person as "that." (go read the transcript, its rather vile).
And the openly gay Minnesota State Senator voting to protect traditional marriage. He's a Republican. Maybe that explains it?
