Here's a bit of a roundup from the blogosphere coverage ...

Ann Rodger's PG story was picked up all over the country, including The Huffington Post.

Pam's House Blend points out while 14,000 seats in the Mellon Arena remained empty, Dobson didn't miss an opportunity to make the Christian connection with the African-American community.

Street Prophets note that a turnout of 3,000 doesn't bode well for electoral turnout among the wingnut faithful.

Regarding the Antifa contingent, there's a LiveJournal report here  and a blurb from their own website here. 

I'm in the middle of the desert struggling to reconcile time zones and this is not the best way to begin a morning ...

These women are poised to be the next generation of leaders in their fields?whether it's sports, business, finance, politics or the arts. In their own words, they tell how they got where they are and where they hope to go next.

This is from Newsweek. The fourth woman profiled?  Mary Cheney - Queen Lesbian Bitch of the Bush Apologists.   Here's some pearls of wisdom on her "career" as a political campaigner ...

Every political campaign, especially at the national level, is an emotional roller coaster. There are moments that are simply incredible?holding a rally with 10,000 cheering people at midnight in Honolulu, watching my dad win the vice presidential debate and holding the Bible while he took the oath of office.

Mary appears to conveniently sidestep the fact that the Bible her father rode to the Vice Presidency is the very same weapon that's beating her entire community down on a daily basis in these hallowed United States.  Not to mention that her father did not win that debate ... but why let facts get in the way of continuing to leverage Daddy's power for your self-promotion? 

Leader?  She worked for her Daddy, she wrote a book that no one bought and she is the most boring talk radio guest I've ever heard.  What the hell kind of leadership is that?  If this is Newsweek's idea of including the LGBTQ community, I'm definitely glad we switched to Time magazine.

On a bright note, they also profile Queen Latifah. 

h/t Pam's House Blend

Local gay organizers have spent dozens of hours organizing a planned LGBTQ presence in response to the upcoming "Stand for the Family" rally sponsored by the grand poobahs of homophobia, Focus on the Family.  It includes everything from a media training to a candlelight prayer vigil. 

And now from the City Paper comes word that a new group Pittsburgh Antifa is planning to ratch things up several notches. 

If we are to stave off an atmosphere of bigotry that directly fuels violence and intolerance, we need to demonstrate to people at war with us that we are willing to fight back against their hatred and bigotry.

So we call on our friends, allies, and comrades to join us on September 20th in a Pink-Purple-and-Black Bloc as we noisily, angrily, and directly confront Focus on the Family Action.

They aren't satisfied with the non-confrontational approach of the Standing for All Families organizers. All the code words are there --- assimilation, trading freedom for security, no such thing as police protection --- you've heard it all before. 

Several local and national groups are collaborating on a week of events to counter "Stand for the Family", culminating in a "Standing With All Families "Presence" outside the rally and a silent prayer vigil a block up the street. This is too narrow a framework for dissent, both in terms of the political issues addressed and the choice of tactics used. It also allows FOFA attendees to pretend they are just attending a conservative version of a liberal rally for same sex marriage.

Great.  Fine.  Believe what you choose.  Practice what you preach.  Do the anti-fascist thing til the sun goes down.  But here's where it gets ridiculous .... Mike Avallone of Bloomfield and Antifa organizer.

?We feel this needs to be confronted for what it is,? Avallone told CP. ?Basically we just want to disrupt it as much as possible from the outside.?

What the hell does that mean?  Hurling insults from behind black masks or throwing fire bombs? I'm not a 100% fan of the presence approach myself, but this is a bit too vague for my comfort.  Hell, its a whole lot too vague.  But this group comes out of nowhere with brimstone rhetoric that's basically a retread of what more radical LGBTQ groups have been saying in the past.  Its probably the same people or their younger siblings.  They have a message, but let's keep it in perspective.

And worst of all, it now has the presence organizers in a bit of a tizzy about how to handle these disruptive pseudo-allies. 

So once fucking again our community is going to get so embroiled by infighting and petty disputes that we will completely miss the point.  Then we can spend the next six years pointing fingers and whining about how apathetic we are.  Blah, blah, blah.

You know what --- these antifa kids have been around for years and they ain't gonna set the Mellon Arena on fire. (Remember RESYST?  They coexisted with us for years). The police know how to handle them so just give them wide berth and do your own lawful thing exercising your first amendment freedoms.  If you think seeing a queer activist in purple and black is the worst sight your kids will endure that night, you are sadly mistaken.  Its a good bet the fetus-friends will be out there with signs that are much worse.  And those rally attendees probably will let loose with a few choice words when their own precious angels have to eyeball handholding homos in mass quantities. 

Leave your kids at home with their homework, bedtime snacks and so forth if you must.  That's fine and its probably where they belong. 

But there's no excuse for you to stay home and let Rick Santorum return to office without even a whimper of protest from the LGBTQ community.  Your kids deserve better than that. 

Official word on plans to cancel the Standing with All Families event is still pending ...

h/t PageOneQ

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?

Damn.

Stunned is the lesbian to realize this slipped under blogging radars ..

From RawStory comes the startling fact that Karl Rove's father (stepfather to be technical but KR called him "Dad") was an openly gay man until his death.  This comes from a new book Karl Rove:  The Architect and the Master Plan for Absolute Power.  Rove has spoken movingly of his father. 

So your DAD is gay, you still love and value him and yet you make his community public enemy #1 in your relentless pursuit of power?  What the hell is that about?

In other news .... Ellen DeGeneres, openly lesbian comedian, will host the 2007 Oscars.  I liked John Stewart, but kudos to Ellen.  I just wish anyone who hosts it could be actually funny instead of pandering to network censors and middle America and all that crap.  And I must admit that if I see Ellen fawn over yet another misogynistic hip-hop performer and sell our her sisters in her quest to be the most beloved entertainment host of the decade, I'll vomit.  Still ... we'll see what happens ...

Maintaining a low blogging profile these past days.  You know when you just don't feel the inspiration .... its hard to blog.  It scares me when I lose my impulse to be snarky ... it even got to the point where I turned off the 6 PM news for a Frasier rerun and the gossip section of Rolling Stone!  I hate that section. 

Ledcat and I have a full day of anti-snark funk breakdown activities planned so stay tuned for your usual blogging fun ....

Pittsburgh's LGBTQ community is taking a stand against the hate and fear spread with glee by wingnuts like Focus on the Family and their other lunatic (but rich!) family values crowd organizations.

As we reported last month, Focus on the Family patriarch Jimmy Dobson and his merry band of bigots are rolling into town later this month for a good old fashion hatefest/rally for the family values candidates event. 

Not to be underestimated, LGBTQ organizers have been working diligently on response efforts.  What's great about this approach is that its not merely a reaction to FotF.  Its a thoughtful response to the role of faith in the lives of contemporary homosexuals.  Here's the plan in a nutshell:

Monday, September 11 - GLAAD media training, Gay & Lesbian Community Center

Tuesday, September 12 - Town Hall meeting on "Religion in the 2006 and 2008 elections", Andy Warhol Museum

Sunday, September 17 -  An evening with Lars Clausen, First United Methodist (this guy rode a unicycle across America)

Monday, September 18 - Gay civil rights film and discussion, Friends Meeting House

Wednesday, September 20 - Stand With All Families Rally, Mellon Arena

Here's what the organizers have to say ...

Our presence around the arena on the night "Focus on the Family Action" is in town for their "Stand for the Family Rally" is meant to also open dialogue but through sounds, signs, standing and strolling. We will be encouraging a respectful presence at the arena that night, with the following:

a gathering area at corner of Center and Mario Lemieux Way for songs led by Rennaissance City Choir people, diverse families as a visible statement, signs with various messages, read poetry,etc.  Additionally, walking the perimiter of the sidewalks of the arena we are encouraging diverse families (with or without kids, couples, families made up of friends, parents and adult children, etc.etc.) to come down wearing either the same color T-shirt for their unit or we'll provide them with a sash so they can stroll the perimeter holding hands, holding signs and otherwise creating a visible statement that diverse families exist and love.

 

We will also have leaflets we pass out maybe saying "What Did Jesus Teach About Homosexuality?" and then you open it and there's nothing inside.  Ha!

Sounds good so far.  I am very bummed because I will be out of town for work that entire week.  I'll miss all the fun.  Thankfully, Ledcat has plans to be there with bells on and will give me all the scoop. 

So dust off your protest signs or, if you prefer, sign up for one of the other events.  Get your Casey for Senator bumper stickers on your car and plant those yard signs.  Make no mistake (as I've said before) that Papa Jimmy is coming to town to rally for Ricky making visibility an issue for that evening AND on election day.

Stay tuned for event details.  Or visit Marriage Equality PA. 

The World Knights of the Klu Klux Klan want to pull the troops out of Iraq.  The downside is that they want to redeploy them to the US-Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration.  This along with the usual hate-rhetoric about gays, blacks, Jews and latinos were on full display during a weekend rally by the KKK at the site of the Gettysburg address.  (PageOneQ)

About 30 members of the Klan showed up.  More than 200 counterprotestors were on hand along with 150 law enforcement officials.  That's causing quite a stir.

The World Knights obtained a permit in July for the two-hour demonstration. The National Park Service granted it under the group's First Amendment rights to free speech.

Several groups counterdemonstrated. Park Service spokeswoman Katy Lawhon said there were no major incidents; one man was cited for entering a restricted area carrying a rainbow flag.

You go, homo-protestor.

Mayor Bob O'Connor

1944-2006