This Thursday 8/31 is K'vetsch!

This month it's going to be held at Garfield Artworks (just a couple
doors up from the usual spot at Modern Formations) at 4931 Penn Ave in
Garfield (http://garfieldartworks.com/).

It's Pittsburgh's only queer open mic.  There'll be a featured
performer, and then you, dear queers, get your chance to take the
stage.  

Admission is $5, but if you perform, it's FREE!

A group of wingnut bigots has been picketing Lucille's, a Johnstown gay bar for the past several months.  The group's leader, self-styled Anabaptist Preacher Ron McRae, has an illustrious career of hating everyone from Catholics to Mormons to everyone's favorite group, the homos.  From the City Paper report, it appears McRae worships at the feet of Fred Phelps. 

The pickets began the first weekend in July, and have taken place on Friday or Saturday nights. There have been at least seven so far, and McRae has attended most, along with four to 10 other protesters. McRae did not respond to a request for comment.

 

?Some of the women [patrons] are very upset ? [picketers] call them hogs,? Schnur says. And the preachers? group has targeted one slim male patron with, ?Hey, skinny boy, do you have AIDS?? he adds. They?ve also brandished a sign reading ?Sodomites, burn in hell.?

Christianity in action, folks - demeaning and slandering people.  Good to know Jesus is in their hearts. 

The bar's owner, Tom Schnur, has worked with local police and the Human Relations Commission to contain the protestors, carefully trying not to add wind to their sails.  Here's hoping boring the protestors will prove fruitful. 

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.

I ran out of time today b/c I agreed to guest blog for John McIntire while he is off on his honeymoon.  I didn't budget enough time for both blogs so alas you'll have to check out his site for my latest insight ... plus learn all about the high-profile life of an official correspondent ....

Homophobia - how to win friends and influence people?  In the case of Pittsburgh's Episcopal Bishop Duncan, that seems to be the situation as the Russian Orthodox Church has offered to restore ties with those US Episcopal Churches that oppose gay ordination (365gay.com)

You recall the scenario ...

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan has been at the forefront of U.S. dioceses which oppose gay clergy. He is moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, a group of 10 U.S. dioceses representing more than 900 parishes and about 200,000 Episcopalians.

The Pittsburgh diocese and others asked for a new overseer of the Episcopal church after the June election of Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop. Schori supported Robinson's consecration and has approved same-sex blessings. She is to be installed as head of the U.S. church Nov. 4.

We've touched on the Russian Orthodox homophobia here at PghLesbian before.  You may recall that they teamed up with skinheads to violently assault gay Russians trying to stage a Moscow Pride march.  From May 2006:

Organizers of a weekend LGBT conference say they intend to march on Saturday despite the ruling. The conference has attracted gay leadership from throughout Europe.

Russian Patriarch Alexy II has denounced the planned festival and parade, and the leader of Russia's Muslims has called for a "violent mass protest" if gay leaders go ahead with Pride celebrations. 

Sounds like quite the spiritual leadership team

And another report from a member of the German Parliament who was assaulted when he participated in the Pride Parade.

Around 100 religious and fascist extremists dressed in black kicked and punched gay activists. ?Moscow is not Sodom!? shouted a group of Russian women clutching religious icons.

Does this mean we are going to have hordes of well-heeled Episcopal women clutching their Books of Common Prayer and teetering alongside next year's Pride Parade in their Mahnola knock offs and shaking their well-manicured fists in our direction?  Cause that would be an interesting site.  I'm fairly sure the PFLAG moms could take them. 

I'm just as sure that "Pittsburgh is not Sodom" would not catch on as a new city slogan, but I could be wrong. 

Bishop Duncan had to send off a letter acknowleding that some of the Anti-Gay-Episcopal Network ordain women to determine if that's a barrier to reunification.  If the Patriarch says that it is, I wonder what they'll do --- transfer all the women to New Hampshire?

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. 

It has been awhile since I blogged about our favorite advice columnist  Cat Specter.  I've discovered that when she drops the snappy Carrie Bradshaw demeanor and simply offers advice, she's not bad.  When she hauls out the flip little one liners and quips, she comes off as trying too hard (we all know that girl!) and the column goes downhill.  Here's my favorite lines this week ...

Cat's Call: Stilettos don't mean easy. They mean business.

It's good to let personalities play out before sex is added to the mix, but it's also good to test-drive a car before buying it.

Cat's Call: Sexual "wait times" shouldn't be necessary.

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 ....

A Brazilial artist has depicted Barbie as a lesbian.  Gasp!

Barbie's parents ain't happy.

A Mattel spokesperson said: "Barbie is a very proper lady and she is not happy about being portraited as something that she isn't"

h/t PageOneQ