Every single day for the past month (or more) someone has found their way to this little blog by typing the keywords Yarone + Zober + Gay into various search engines. MSN, Yahoo, Google, Ask.com, Dogpile ... you name it, they've surfed here ....
The answer is I don't know. He was recently married and is, according to MacYapper, now getting divorced and living temporarily with Jim Ferlo. Does that make him gay? Nope. Does it make him not gay? Nope. Do I think its worth contemplating? Not particularly.
But PghLesbian is now like the Magic 8 Ball on homo issues. I get all sorts of strange inquiries looking for gay data on assorted Pgh notables ... asking about assorted Steelers, state and local politicians, media mavens, and sometimes an actually openly gay person. And many, many such inquiries on Rick Santorum.
Stop trying to put all these uncomfortable heterosexual people in our closet! You spawned them, you have to learn to live with them. Don't kick them to the curb and think we'll be happy to take them in. Not every homophobe is a self-loathing closet case. Sometimes they are just jerks who should know better.
As reported earlier, Jimmy Dobson and his merry band of bigots are rolling into town in mid-September for a very special "Stand for the Family" hatefest as only the Christian wingnuts can muster ....
Never fear, however, for Pittsburgh's LGBTQ community is taking action and taking a stand. Sayeth Marriage Equality organizer and Pittsburgh hometown girl Dana Elmendorf ...
Whether you are a glbtq person or an allie, it?s time for us to interrupt this rhetoric and show that our families are real. The only families being threatened are ours which lack the same civil rights protections as heterosexual married couples. We need to be visible and outspoken in refraiming this issue to reflect the reality that our families exist, are valued and that it is possible to follow one?s faith and spiritual journey while witnessing for compassion and peace for ALL families.
Multiple events are planned with the most prominent being rallies before and after the FotF event.
You can get involved with the planning. The first meeting will be Tuesday, August 29, 2006 from 7 - 9 PM at the GLCC in Squirrel Hill. Just show up.
Some agree with the planned action, others think it feeds into the agenda of the bigots. What's a given is that if we do nothing but stay home and complain, they win.
Hurrah! Hurrah! Patricia Todd's electoral victory has been acknowledged by the Alabama Democratic Committee, guaranteeing her a slot on the ballot for the November primary where she faces no Republican opponent.
I know there should be more insightful analysis here in our little space. But I have spent the past few hours celebrating our friends' 30th anniversary. Other couples with us mark this year as their 31st, 21st, and 17th. Its our third anniversary. We played croquet and volleyball, ate the most delicious pork roast and tried to figure out how many ways we were threatening Rick Santorum's marriage. All in all, a delightful evening and one I don't want to diminish by delving into petty bigotry and the underlying racial implications.
She won the election fair and square. Her name is Patricia Todd, she's openly lesbian and ran for a seat in the Alabama state house representing Birmingham. And she won! But the mother in law of one of her Democratic opponents (there were no Republicans in this race) filed a coomplaint about an arcane rule that has been disregarded since 1988, most notably by the party's current nonimees for Governor and Lt. Governor. And word from Pam's House Blend is that the rule itself may not have been valid.
So a Democratic party committee overturned the election results. Where it stands now? The party executive committee may overturn the overturn.
Check out these bloggers for more insight into this mayhem ...
The anti-gay spin has been downplayed in coverage, but the fact of the matter is, as the NYT article notes, anonymous fliers were posted calling Patricia Todd a "confessed lesbian." No one needs to ignore this and let it slip below the radar. The black homophobia should not be swept under the rug.
And so, with the disqualification over an arcane rule that no Dem in a certified race has followed, this is a statement that "if we can't have the black winner we want, we'll sacrifice both of them to get the white lesbian out of the picture."
Even Diana Irey, his Republican challenger, acknowledged in an interview last week that she's facing "an uphill battle."
But Ms. Irey added: "The war issue has made people raise an eyebrow ... and given us an opportunity to tell people who he really is." She mentions Mr. Murtha's opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage: "Jack Murtha acts more like he's representing liberal San Francisco than conservative southwestern Pennsylvania."
Diana, honey, both my eyebrows are raised in skeptical disbelief that you actually spew this ridiculous crap in front of people with notepads and cameras. Its so very predictable to trot out the tired old gay-by-association references. And very sad that you attempt to counter Murtha's pragmatic stance on the war with the old homo thrust and parry.
Check out Chris Matthew's smackdown of Irey here ....
After a whirwind tour of our nation's capital, we are back here in not-so-sunny Pittsburgh and glad to be home. We visited my alma mater, stopped by the National Zoo to see the pandas (only saw the papa), toured the Museum of American Indians (wow) and strolled through Georgetown and Chinatown. Ledcat went to the Holocaust Memorial which I've seen several times while I was at my workshop. We stayed in a ridiculously overpriced hotel -- the most significant difference between this one and a regularly overpriced hotel seemed to be the down comforters. ...
But back to the homo news from here and around the globe ...
First, a follow up. You may recall the fine upstanding Philadelphia couple, Joseph J. Catto and Shawnita Armonstrong Catto, who wrote in to their local paper expressing their disgust that homo-marriage is compared with interracial marriage. Just a quick mention that a fellow reader, Vanessa Burk of Medford, NJ, took a few moments to slap down the Armstrong-Catto hypocrisy:
It's sickening to know that even a couple of interracial status cannot understand that all minorities are in the same boat and should work together.
Who are they to judge anyone, seeing as if they were to have fallen in love in 1940, they would have had a very difficult time trying to live for love. Do not judge other people's feelings. The two of you getting married was a choice you made, being gay is not.
Here, here Vanessa. The mighty-white wingnuts have done an excellent job sowing discord among American minorities. Its sad how frequently we step on each other in our scramble to reach the pinnacle of acceptance among the MWW. The sooner we realize their agenda and work together for human rights, the sooner we might realize they ain't ceding an inch of ground to anyone outside of their club.
Some good news from the Bush Administration ....the Prez signed the Pension Protection Act which includes provisions protecting two aspects of the financial interests of same-sex partners. Check out the Advocate for more details.
A gay porn star is heading to Israel to provide a live sex entertainment show for the Israeli troops ... how is it possible that they object to Gay Pride, but permit a live gay sex show????
A New York women's wrongful death case dismissed because she has no legal standing as a spouse. Even after 18 years together and coparenting two children. Sigh.
Cincinnati gays will be protected from discrimination in housing and employment now that their homegrown hate group has withdrawn its petition to force a voter referendum on the matter (the non-discrimination policy was previously passed by city council). Or more precisely, now that the gay-affirming residents have proven that the referendum petition was fraudulent, containing hundreds of false signatures. Ha!
Well, that's it for this morning .... off to try out my new coffee grinder and unpack. Uggg.
Our girl and mistress of family-values flavored hate, Diane Gramley has mounted her high horse again and that's never a good thing.
Seems Big Mama D has figured out that three Pennsylvania Congressman have signed the non-discrimination pledge sponsored by Gender PAC. She believes this opens the door to all sorts of hell ...
Three PA Congressmen Allow Men Dressed as Women to Come to Work . . . .
At least that's what their signature on the Gender PAC/Human Rights Campaign Diversity Statement will allow!
It has come to our attention that Congressman Robert Brady (D - 1st), Congressman Mike Doyle (D - 14th) and Congressman Jim Gerlach (R - 6th) have signed onto a Diversity Statement from Gender PAC and the Human Rights Campaign.
These groups are two radical homosexual rights groups.
You'll recall that this is the very same document our very own Rick Santorum signed and then unsigned, blaming the original signature on the work of someone in his office. I'm sure he can count on Diane's vote.
Here's the source of Diane's concerns:
You may want to remind them that there was a situation in Carbon County, PA where a male prison guard decided he was transgender and began coming to work dressed as a woman. He was fired, but because of the prison union being from Allentown (which had added 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' to their Human Relations Ordinance in 2002), the guard sued and was reinstated. Our news release brought up the questions of strip searches, locker room and restroom usage!
Diane must be hanging out in the same circles of some of my more saucy friends b/c those are frequent topics among them as well ...
Here, here to Liz Carrier of Squirrel Hill. Her letter "Campaign Comment" in today's Post-Gazette roundly boxes the ears of both Rick Santorum for running a negative campaign and the Post-Gazette for reporting on to the exclusion of covering actual issues.
Liz points out that telephone polls follow the grand old Pittsburgh tradition of ignoring young people who are much more likely to use cell phones than land lines. (I'm sure the white yuppie Repubocrats who aspire to nestle under the wing of old white men hedge their bets with both a landline and cell phone).
She continues:
It is not enough to tell us who is "winning" the election (according to a not necessarily accurate poll); I want to know why I should or shouldn't vote for either candidate.
These seem like a reasonable request, Liz. Coverage of issues. Inclusion of young people's perspectives. Where have I heard that before?
Liz seems to have done her homework on the issues without the help of the Post-Gazette.
And to my fellow young voters, I say this about Sen. Santorum: I will not be voting for him, because of his votes in Congress against increasing the minimum wage, against increasing funding for Pell Grants (which provide federal financial aid to college students), against expanding Head Start, against expanding federal after school programs, against the EPA's Clean Air Mercury Rule, to say nothing of his continued support for the war in Iraq and his blatant homophobia.
Those are sound reasons to vote against Rick Santorum. I guess his spokesfag didn't fool you into thinking he's a homolover deep in his heart, huh?
The American Psychological Association has released a press statement, taking a strong stance against conversion theory. Conversion theory is predicated upon the notion that you can change sexual orientation and is a core component of the controversial ex-gay movement.
"For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA's concern about the positions espoused by NARTH and so-called conversation therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
NARTH is the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. They have a whole litany of quack scientific studies that "prove" homosexuality is a choice. Check out Truth Wins Out which monitors the abusive practices of the ex-gay movement.
These NARTH people are pathetic, abusive monsters. They prey upon vulnerable people, take all their money in payment for so-called therapy, treatment, even camps and, of course, leave them bitter and disillusioned when it doesn't work (not to mention broke).
Note that the APA rightly calls out perennial homo-opponent Focus on the Family who will be making a stop in Pittsburgh this fall.
Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
This is a critical point. The Jimmy Dobsons and Rick Santorums of the world don't openly call for violence against homosexuals, but they are major contributors to the cultural environment in which contempt for gays takes it that one step further. They are standing at the top of the slippery slope pouring down the lube ...
David at 2PJs put together a nice post on this waffle ...Santorum had signed a pledge not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in employment matters. Now he's withdrawing his signature.
But there's more to the story ...
According to Gay City News, it was a staffer who signed the original document. The issue is not homosexuality but the inclusion of gender identity. Rick doesn't want to hire trannies. Shocker!
Santorum?s out gay communications director, Robert Traynham, said that the statement was signed by an aide on Santorum?s behalf under the misapprehension that it was ?consistent with our office manual,? which he said does ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but not gender identity or expression.
Traynham said they have ?legal issues? with the inclusion of protections for people of transgender experience. ?It is not something we would accept,? he said, adding that Santorum still does not believe federal law should protect people based on sexual orientation.
When he says "legal issues," Santorum's spokesfag really means reelection issues. Thankfully, they have a lot of fodder for their hate campaign what with all the immigrants to persecute so Pennsylvania's transsexual community is safe. For now.
Its good to know the Senator's signature means something. Click on the image to see the original document.
