March 1, 2006

Vacation

Hey Kids! My apologies. I flew the coop unexpectedly. Now that I'm gainfully unemployed I can do these sort of things, like skip town on a moment's notice, for example. Now I'm back for a couple days before I head down to Los Angeles (a photoshoot for Hoop: The Movie) and then I'm off to Miami to warm up with some friends. Once my great American vacation is over and the dust settles Queer Day will be back with a vengeance, or maybe I'll just stick a fork in it, or maybe we'll turn it into a group experience. Want to be a part of a big love community project? Let me know. As for what will happen, I guess we'll all have to wait and see. I'm more or less out of town until later this month. In the meantime you're beautiful, I love you and hope you're having the happiest queer day possible.

February 17, 2006

Heath Ledger to play Rock Hudson?

ledger Heath Ledger is in negotiations to take on another big gay movie role that isn't entirely clear cut. The Brokeback Mountain star who earned himself a Best Actor Oscar nomination is currently the frontrunner to play Hollywood icon and rather legendary closet case Rock Hudson who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1985. According to Aint it Cool News, a major movie spoiler site, an inside source said, "After playing a straight man who has a gay relationship, Heath Ledger will do a 180 and play a gay man who has a straight relationship." His next role is playing a heroin addict in Neil Armfield's "Candy." The film is based on a Luke Davies novel.

Feast of Fools does gay Podcasting proud

feast of fools Feast of Fools has truly become a driving force in the world of Podcasting. Co-hosts Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion spend their weekdays crossing global lines and barriers while striving to reach listeners from all walks of life via the internet. As thousands of new podcasts have become available for download the boys remain on top. Feast of Fools is Chicago's #! Podcast, regularly ranked in the top 15 comedy podcasts on iTunes, and is the only gay-themed production to make iTunes “Top 100 Podcast" list - and with good reason. Whether it's an intimate rummage through Illinois State Representative's Sara Feingenholz’s office refrigerator, a walk through the deep parts of the Puerto Rican rainforest or a frank discussion of Chicago's sexual underground at the world's largest Leather Conference, Queer Day thinks you should be giving these Fools a listen.

Colorado gay rights measure gains interesting support

colorado church window Colorado based Focus on the Family, the wingnuts who've made it a mission to teach the world that gays and lesbians lead dangerous and deviant lifestyles, the same ministry that has long lobbied against recognizing same-sex couples as spouses or even parents, has endorsed a bill that would give same-sex couples in the state some of the same rights as heterosexual spouses. For the record the bill's GOP author, Senator Shawn Mitchell, doesn't support gay marriage or even civil unions. Colorado Clergy for Equality and Marriage has announced its opposition to the proposed state constitutional amendment that would place a ban on gay marriage in the state. Gil Caldwell says, "My concern as a civil rights activist is that we have not learned lessons from our history," Caldwell said. "We've been through the segregation of women, the segregation of African Americans. Now it appears we want to segregate same-gender loving couples."

World of Warcraft's gay drama brings apology

world of warcraft World of Warcraft's online game community, which draws more than five million players worldwide, has found itself in the middle of a big gay controversy. A player, Sara Andrews of Nashville, Tennesee, was threatened with expulsion from the virtual Warcraft world after she sought to recruit others into her gay-friendly team. An uproar ensued, spurring the game's maker to review its treatment of gay players. Blizzard Entertainment, the game's maker, apologized to Andrew, saying the warning was a mistake and that it will make some changes to prevent a repeat. Of course Andrews' attorney from Lambda Legal may have had something to do with that too.

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February 17, 2006


Ian McKellen calls Hollywood on its homophobia

mckellen Speaking at the Berlin Film Festival where he received a lifetime achievement award, out gay British actor Sir Ian McKellen lashed out at Hollywood saying that openly gay US actors are prevented from having successful careers. "It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality, and even more difficult for a woman if she's lesbian. It's very distressing to me that that should be the case. The film industry is very old fashioned in California," McKellen said. As for the lifetime achievement award, McKellen says he's enjoying a late burst of global fame and that he still has a lot of life left. He told the audience, "I still hope I've got a lot of life left on stage and making films." Queer Day hopes he'll keep telling it like it is as well.


Hey Kids - It's the Queer Day Mailbag!

mailman · #1: Remember the shootings nightmare earlier this month at Puzzles Lounge? A fund has been set up for the victims. Send donations to: St. Anne's Credit Union, Puzzles Victim Fund, P.O. BOX 0 (zero), Fall River, MA 02724.

· #2: Garrett, a long time reader of Queer Day, writes: "Can you help spread the word that the GLBT-SA at the University of North Carolina is hosting the 4th annual UNITY Confernce on April 7th-9th and already over 150 students have registered!" Consider it done Garrett and it's great to see the such hardcore support from the administration.

Continue reading "Hey Kids - It's the Queer Day Mailbag!" »


Gay marriage takes hit in New York, ACLU vows to continue the fight

new york wedding case couple Vitale and Tripi The state Appellate Division, combining three separate cases brought by gay couples, rejected the argument that New York's marriage law is unconstitutional, throwing out the lawsuit - but the American Civil Liberties Union made a promise to appeal to New York's highest court after an intermediate court refused to strike down a state law that bars same-sex couples from marriage - and the hundreds of family protections afforded to married couples. Jeanne Vitale and Amy Tripi, pictured, want their relationship legally recognized. The New York Court of Appeals has already accepted review of the issue of marriage for same-sex couples in another case, Hernandez v. Robles, which was brought by Lambda Legal.

February 16, 2006


That's one expensive homophobic military policy

gay terrorist The financial costs to the U.S. military for discharging and replacing gay service members under the nation's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are nearly twice what the government estimated last year, according to a new University of California report. I find it odd that South Korea only discharged eight gay servicemen last year by comparison. Anyway, speaking of protecting the homeland, on the backs of people of color, I find it very disconcerting that the Justice Department asked a judge to approve Patriot Act e-mail monitoring without any evidence of criminal behavior - and instead of asking to eavesdrop on the contents of the e-mail messages, which would require some evidence of wrongdoing, prosecutors requested the identities of the correspondents. [Gay terrorist photo snagged from Robotic Kid's rather genius self-portrait collection.]


Bush gives $500 Million to fight gay marriage as deficit reduction tactic

bush President Bush signed legislation giving $500 million to faith-based programs to promote and strengthen opposite-sex marriage, a provision that's part of the deficit reduction bill passed by Congress. How this reduced the deficit is anybody's guess. Bush himself noted, “It allows faith-based groups that provide social services to receive federal funding without changing the way they hire,” Bush noted at the White House signing ceremony. Translation: We're giving money to groups that specifically discriminate in their hiring process. Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Wade Horn said that the financial windfall is not intended to specifically oppose same-sex marriage, although the President is a major supporter of a proposed amendment to ban gay marriage in the Constitution. Like I said yesterday, Bill Frist is bringing it in June. Yep, it's happening all over again.

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