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

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. 

For more on this story, check out PageOneQ and Pam's take. 

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.

See you in the AM.

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 ...

Pam's analysis of the turmoil

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."

Birmingham Blues has more good stuff ...

We'll follow this and hope for the best with today's meeting ....

This was very amusing from today's Post-Gazette:

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 ....