Matt Huffmyer of Westview has had it with pick and choose Christians who toss out all the good Old Testament stuff b/c Jesus didn't talk about it.
Stuff like homosexuality and porn.
Jesus said that He came to fulfill the law and the prophets. They clearly state that any type of sexuality outside of the bond of marriage between a man and a woman is a sin. Just because Jesus doesn't specifically speak about homosexual behavior and Hustler magazine does not mean He wouldn't confront us today.
There I was thinking that thousands of years of debate among all sorts of Bibleworshippers meant there was room for interpretation. But, obviously, they were all wrong and our buddy up in Westview has it right. Jesus, like many Christians, was obsessed with all thing sexual in spite of his actual teachings about poverty, forgiveness, hunger, love, charity, etc.
Jesus knows that to fully understand love and grace that we need to fully understand and accept responsibility for our own sin. Jesus' teachings are not a buffet. We are not to pick and choose as we see fit but must eat the entire meal.
That's right Matt so how about you convince your buddies to put down the fetus signs and sign up to adopt an unwanted 8 year old child? How about you spend your lunch break at the Allegheny County Jail holding the hand of the mother of an 19 year old inmate? How about you pick up some socks and underwear at Target and drop it at the Wood Street Shelter? Or stop by the food bank this Saturday to pack up some groceries? How about you lobby Congress to increase funding for human service programs to make sure our poorest citizens are cared for? How about, how about, how about?
How about you worry about the issues that your friend Jesus recognized actually hurt people the most -- poverty, isolation, anger, imprisonment, hunger, hatred? Leave Larry Flynt to the homos.
Tis a day of mixed emotions here at Lesbian Central. Our dear Miss Mona, age 11, has been diagnosed with early stage lymphoma. She begins chemotherapy tomorrow morning. She has to go once every 3 weeks for 5 treatments. Poor Miss Mona has lost some weight and a bit of her sassy energy, but otherwise she remains dogged in her daily pursuits: stealing tennis balls from her brothers, sleeping on the furniture and eating cat food whenever possible.
We are hopeful that the treatment will be successful in making her final months comfortable. Chemotherapy is much less awful for dogs than people. My Dad was a bit concerned she would lose all her fur and scare my grandmother, but that is typically not a dog side effect. I hope. Not so much to avoid scaring grandmother though. No, other than a bit of intestinal distress, the typical side effects are not bad. Otherwise, I wouldn't put her through it.
Still, she's my dog. She was a stray dog running amok on the streets when a car hit her and broke her hip. They took her to the hospital where my friend Dr. John worked. He fixed her up and suggested I foster her. That was 9 years ago. Obviously, she stuck. My Dad named her Mona because she makes this low moaning sound when she's unhappy. She's a super smart, funny, sassy little lady.
This past weekend, our 17 month old niece came to visit and was all giggles and smiles to meet Mona. Mona licked her a few times and then became much more interested in the adult with the leftover hotdog. When Mona would bark, I said "woof woof" to keep Ava from being afraid. In two seconds flat, Ava was saying "fff, fff" to imitate her. It was very cute. Mona was not impressed and kept trying to land a hotdog.
What does this have to do with anything? Not much, except that it is my blog and I need to put this out there in the universe for some good healing vibes. This is our second pet cancer challenge this year -- our cat had breast cancer and is doing fine. So all you pet lovers our there, lesbian or not, please keep a kind thought for Miss Mona.
As we reported last week, Kennywood, the bastion of local family fun, was producing a pirate themed show that featured homophobic content ... lispy voice, gay kissing panic, you know the drill. In response to a complaint, Kennywood General Manager Jerome Gibis said he didn't find the content offensive and wasn't going to change the content without more complaints.
Intrepid Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force employee, Mary Hawk, brought the issue to the attention of Pittsburgh's gay community via email. Word spread like wildfire. And the complaints commenced. No numbers are available, but apparently the threshhold for "a lot" was surpassed by Saturday afternoon.
Mary received a call from Mr. Gibis, informing her that the offensive lines were removed. She shared the good news by email:
"I wanted to let you know that I just got a call from Jerome Gibis at Kennywood, who said they had removed the remarks we were concerned about from the dive show. Apparently, he got quite a few phone calls yesterday and today. Thank you all for forwarding the message, and to those of you who made calls."
Local queer advocate Ehrrin Keenan, owner the queer-events email list, got involved and sent me a transcript of her telephone conversation with Mr. Gibis:
> JG: Hi, I'm returning your call regarding your concern with the > content of our of our shows. > EK: Yes, hello. Thank you for calling. > JG: Can I ask how you heard about this? > EK: Sure. I received an email that was forwarded from an email that > Mary Hawk sent out to her co-workers after her conversation with you > about the homophobic content in the "Pirates of Kenny Cove" show. > JG: Yeah, I guess Mary told a lot of people. > EK: Yep. And, lots of other people told their friends, and friends > of friends, etc. You told Mary that you required "additional > comments" before you'd consider removing that content from the > show. I, and many others, wanted to make sure you received the > comments you needed. > JG: Well, it really was only about three words. I mean, it's > entertainment, and everyone has a different idea about what's > funny, so we can't change everything just because one person > doesn't like it
.> EK: I think Mary explain pretty thoroughly that it had nothing to do > with whether she "liked it" or not. It had to do with a particular > scene that was homophobia parading as comedy. She also explained > exactly why it was offensive, and who it could harm, and how it could > harm them. > JG: Well, everyone has a different idea of what's funny. > EK: Indeed. Some people find homophobia funny. Some people find > racism funny, too, but we generally recognize that those things > aren't acceptable, and in fact, can be very, very harmful. > JG: We removed it, so that was all I was calling to say.> So, yeah. He didn't remove it because it was the right thing to > do, or because he saw the point when someone brought it up to him, > but because he got too many calls and emails and wanted it to stop
I wonder if Jerome listened to Don Imus? Because he comes across like an ignorant oaf. I mean seriously, dude, how can you not recognize that a prancing, lisping gay pirate offering to perform mouth mouth resucitation is homophobic? The whole point of the "joke" is to mock homosexuals. I fail to see how a man bright enough to run an amusement park could miss that point. Obviously, Kennywood needs to work on their cultural sensitivity training. Or their management training.
Ehrrin makes an excellent point about the motivation for the change -- nothing to do with righting a wrong or addressing homophobia. Rather, it was simply a matter of appearsing a vocal minority. Kennywood doesn't give a damn about inciting gay bashing; they just want the homos to stop calling.
Nonetheless, the queer community should be very proud of this small success. Stamping out offensive language that could potentially harm our children (and the children of straight folks) is an important thing and kudos to everyone who took the time to make those phone calls.
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'.
OK, this just strikes me as weird. The Tribune-Review sent a reporter to OUTrageous Bingo to do a story on the lack of a lesbian scene in Pittsburgh. "Lesbian scene" should always be read as "no lesbians bars," but we'll get to that in a moment.
OUTrageous Bingo is a mixed event - gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered men and women, old people, young people, etc. Why not send a reporter to an actual lesbian event (or a queer women's event) where it more likely you'll find a diverse group of people who are a little plugged in and can say with some authority what's missing?
Anyway, I personally get really tired of people moaning that there is no lesbian bar in Pittsburgh. Good grief. Of all the types of lesbian-friendly places I can conceive, one covered in smoke soot and encouraging women to consume alcohol is not high on my list of lesbian friendly ideals. I could take us on a little trip down the wonderful world of lesbian health to see the disproportionate impacts of alchol abuse and nicotine addiction in the lesbian community, but I'll restrain myself. It always strikes me as ironic that women who so enthusiastically support the ESTHER project, a lesbian health project, are the ones complaining about the bar situation.
Now that I got that off my chest, I have to say that the women profiled in the story made some excellent points about many projects and events being dominated by gay men, the small group of the same people who show up for everything, etc. And it is interesting how the younger women are picking up the mantle to get new kinds of things with an old twist organized. Sarah Claire, for example, organizes dance parties at the smoke free Ava Lounge in East Liberty. Cool. Ehrrin Keenan organizes lesbian book club and game nights. Very cool. Kat and Rowan got the potluck up and running smoothly. Awesome. We need to keep that kind of initiative flowing.
Now see Ledcat and I would do all of those things. Except we haven't. Because life gets in the way. Maybe part of the issue is that women have pretty full plates so a once a month or once every other month outing to a lesbian-centric event is enough. Maybe we've integrated as lesbians into society enough that our social needs can be filled outside of a lesbian bar.
Maybe its no longer about retreating to a lesbian-centric space as claiming our own spaces as lesbian-centric. Isn't that what we've been struggling for all these years? I'm not saying we don't need lesbian oriented places. But maybe they aren't bars. Maybe it's the fact that I can walk into Cafe Beleza on teh Northside, holding Ledcat's hand and call her honey without thinking twice about it. Or maybe that we can go out to dinner at the Square Cafe, staffed mainly by lesbians, and do the same thing. Or fly a rainbow windsock on my porch on a street with one other gay couple. Or that I have her picture on my desk at work.
Maybe this is an opportunity to generate a new sense of space and community.
To be fair, the article missed some pretty big things, namely the Dyke March and Celebrate the Night. It missed the queer performance events and the queer arts scene almost completely. It completely missed the Burghosphere.
It also missed the ongoing tension between gay men and lesbians over power and control of LGBTQ resources. This dynamic is at play whether its bar owners complaining about lesbians who drink water all night or the debate about the misanthropic content of drag queen shows.
The sidebar article sums up why this piece was not a hallmark step forward for the lesbians in Pittsburgh. The editor helpfully included a list of contact information for the events described in the main story, which is especially good for those lesbians in the hinterlands that aren't sure how to go about finding these resources. Kudos to the Trib. However, the title of that sidebar? Where the girls are.
An email message has been circulating the Internet for the past 24 hours, claiming that the newest entertainment at Kennywood has homophobic content and asking the community complain about it. I've been unsuccessful in contacting the individual, an employee of the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force, but have received several copies of the message from credible leaders in the LGBT community who obviously know this woman enough to put their name behind her story. Thus, I've opted to go ahead and post about the rumor.
According to her email, she recently visited Kennywood and caught the newest dive show performance:
>> I was at the dive show, which this year is pirate-themed. The >> scenario is that the captain of the pirate crew is drowning, but > his >> crew members reject the idea of giving him mouth-to-mouth >> resuscitation. However, one of the crew members runs up, gives a >> swishy flip of his wrist, and says in a lispy voice, "I'll do > it, >> sweetie!" To this, the Master of Ceremonies replies, "Hey, hey, >> we'll have none of that here!" How homophobic and unnecessary.
Typical stupied homophobic humor. You would think after Johnny Depp's performance as a fey pirate, they would have enough sense to use a little wink, wink swish to make their gay references. Fortunately, they are stupid enough to be blatant which means they got caught. A ha!
The author took action and contacted Kennywood management.
>> After a couple of calls to Kennywood, I finally got a call back >> from the general manager, who said that he didn't pick up on > the >> content as being offensive, in fact didn't even think about it >> until he got my message and then went to see the show again. He >> basically said he was not concerned about it, and generally they >> don't change show content until they get numerous complaints. > As >> such, is going to leave the show as it is. (I could tell he thinks >> I'm crazy, which I may be, but not about this.)
Thus, content is not offensive unless they get a critical mass of complaints. Then it is still not offensive, but might cost money so they'll consider pulling it. Overall, things ain't gonna change at Kennywood if people don't complain.
The rumors that Kennywood is not gay-friendly have been circulating for years. I've had very credible LGBTQ community members share stories about management resistance to a "Gay Day" at Kennywood. Apparently, we are welcome to come spend our money as long as we aren't too flamboyantly gay. That's reserved for the pirates. However, when Ledcat and I are in line, we notice dozens of homos, coupled and not. None, to my knowledge, have attempted to convert the innocent children running amok without parental supervision -- if anyone should be banned from Kennywood, it is children dumped by their parents for 8 hours and a few $20 bills.
And make no mistake about it -- the kids know we are gay. They aren't stupid. They see gay people at school, on television, in the movies and on the Internet. They probably know the coded gay behaviors better than most gays. Kennywood isn't protecting them from anything other than lessons in tolerance.
So now throw a gay pirate into the mix. How original! Why not take a group of sugar hyped unsupervised teenagers and infuse a little gay-panic into the mix? Cause the kid they all pick on for being a sissy -- he's probably somewhere in the park, maybe with his kid sister. And when they track him down, will the pirates come to his rescue? Will the sweeper chicks use their pans to defend him? Will anyone even care as long as he doesn't bleed in front of Kiddieland?
Our on the scene correspondent has a few more thoughts:
>> I then pointed out to him that a majority of our local population >> may not find these comments offensive, but that this doesn't > make >> it right to continue it. I also said that many individuals who are > >> indeed offended by it may not be able voice their concerns, for > fear >> of having to identify themselves as gay and or being perceived as >> gay. I also said that the young, gay teen who is watching the show > >> and is hurt by those comments, will certainly not complain to >> management. I further encouraged him to do the right thing for the >> voices that can't express themselves. However, he said he is >> going to leave the show as it is unless he gets any additional >> comments.
Amen, sister. He's being a stupid homophobic ass.
The general manager of Kennywood is Jerome Gibas. I left a message asking for a comment. No response thus far.
Please pick up the phone and let Kennywood know this is unacceptable. It is stupid pandering to the latent homophobia in their audience and just absurd content for kids to view. Family friendly my ass. Why not hoist a giant Rosie O'Donnell balloon and let kids go to town with paint ball guns?
The park phone number is 412-461-0500. You will need to select Guest Relations from the menu and ask to speak with Jerome.
I think that today I'll be on the John McIntire show around 1:20 to talk about the Bruce Kraus victory. Be sure to listen 93.7 The Zone. Call in with scintillating questions.
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?).
You mean other stuff happened yesterday? Here's a smattering ...
Scott Weber of Shaler wrote to the Post-Gazette urging people to recognize the value of gay parenting.
In describing his country's new civil partnership law, British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke about what he called "the civilizing effect" the policy has had on society far beyond the gay and lesbian community. Gay and lesbian parents deserve understanding and the same legal safeguards as other parents.
The Rev. Jane Adams Spahr a North Side Presbyterian native will speak Sunday at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
PG sports columnist Shelly Anderson takes a peek at discrimination in the sports world.
Perhaps, on the surface, we don't really care if athletes, coaches and management are black, white, Asian, gay, straight or Libertarian, as long as they come across as decent people, although it's telling that gay athletes aren't lining up to go public during their playing days.
In reality, we probably have a long way to go. For now, sports can still be defined as black, white and misread all over.
I chatted with my friend Councilman Bill Peduto about the election outcome and congratulating him. The Burghosphere has been bursting with analysis of the Peduto impact -- the Pedutocrats.
Here's what Bill had to say about it all (I refer to him as Bill on account of us being friends n'at.):
"Thanks, Sue - but it wasn't me - it was a few hundred activist Democrats (the lifeblood of our party) that never stopped campaigning after my announcement. They went to work for Bruce, Patrick, Heather and some to Brenda. Interesting to watch my friend Michael Nutter's victory in Philadelphia against the machine and the coming of age of the independent, progressive, reform democrats in Pittsburgh. Interesting times, indeed."
