With New Orleans 80 percent under water, hope springs eternal. The Oxford Press quotes a bar owner as saying he hopes the power is back on for the event. In Myrtle Beach, the paper quotes a restaurant owner just waiting for the power to come on so he can start cooking for it. WorldNet says the two events are connected and that God sent Katrina to stop the party.
House of Blues booked dancehall homophobe Sizzla for concerts at its clubs in Cleveland and ... West Hollywood. The West Hollywood show got canned, but HOB stood behind the August 31 Cleveland show. While Sizzla had agreed not to perform songs calling for the violent murders of gay people, recently it's been reported that he's performing them again. Good as You warns gay Clevelanders to watch out for scalpers - literally.
The Philadelphia Phillies sold a big block of tickets to a big block of gay baseball fans. Then they let Repent America hang some kind of homophobic banner in the park. "People have the right to express another opinion," says Phillies VP Mike Stiles. Columnist Debbie Woodell begs to differ.
Continue reading "Phillies dis gay fans, allow homophobic banner" »
Jose Merel, accused of killing transgender teen Gwen Araujo, only slapped and hit her because he was devastated to find out she was biologically male, says his attorney. William Du Bois says his client is just guilty of assault, not murder. Closing arguments resume Tuesday.
Fred Phelps brought his gay-hate sideshow to the funerals of two Tennessee GIs killed in Iraq, saying God was punishing the soldiers for defending a country that harbors gay people. Local residents chased the "church" members cars' down a highway, waving flags and screaming "God bless America."
Nobody's too happy about Estanislao Martinez's (pictured) four-year sentence in the stabbing death of Joel Robles, except maybe the killer. Martinez said he thought Robles was biologically female and when he took Robles home, he discovered otherwise. Unbelievably, his Fresno lawyer trotted out the trans/gay-panic defense, and it seems to have worked. Note this happened not too far as the crow flies from where Gwen Araujo was murdered.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has invited the nation’s largest African-American gay civil rights organization to become one of about 100 co-conveners of the Millions More Movement rally, which is expected draw thousands to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 15. In a letter dated Aug. 15, Farrakhan invited the National Black Justice Coalition to participate as a co-convener.
Former Boyzone star Stephen Gately has offered his support for fellow Irish boyband singer Mark Feehily, pictured, after he came out earlier this month. Gately praised the Westlife heartthrob, saying his courage will have a positive effect on people in a similar position who have yet to tell their families they are gay.
I'm off, off of Queer Day for the weekend, off all of next week as well. I'm off for Burning Man and the lovely and talented Nancy will be holding down the fort next week - so tune on in and give her some love, alright? And for those of you who will be adventuring in Black Rock City as well, come find me and say hello. I'll be within the Avalon Synapse Station at 7:30 and Catharsis. Peace out.
Massachusetts state legislators have voted to hold a Constitutional Convention next month to debate a proposed constitutional amendment that would replace gay marriage with Vermont-style civil unions. Members of the House and Senate have already given initial approval to the amendment, but the state constitution requires them to approve identical language in two successive sessions before the amendment can be put before state voters.
Continue reading "Massachusetts gay marriage threatened as legislators set convention date" »
Lucy Lawless wants to bring her cult television show "Xena: Warrior Princess" to the big screen and her husband, Rob Tapert, creator and producer of the TV show, is trying to buy the rights from Universal so he can make the feature film a reality. "I think a movie would be great, and I'd love to do it," Lawless told SciFi Wire. "I've been wanting to do it for years. Nobody can agree who owns the rights, and it's a big fat pain in the ass."
Continue reading "Lucy Lawless: I'd love to do a Xena movie" »
Criminologist Doug Janoff, pictured, says violence against gays and lesbians in Canada is more "frenzied" and intense than that perpetrated against other victims of violent crime. "The violence is real, it is intense and it really needs to be taken seriously," Janoff says. In his new book, "Pink Blood: Homophobic Violence in Canada," the Ottawa-based author, who has a master's degree in criminology from B.C.'s Simon Fraser University, says, "We need to start asking very hard questions . . . demanding that these laws that are supposedly in place to protect us are actually going to be utilized." The book opens with a list of more than 100 gay or lesbian individuals who have died violently in the past decade.
Continue reading "Crimes against gays more 'frenzied' and violent" »
Page Six reports that "I'm a gay american" former New Jersey Governer James McGreevey might be facing some awkward competition for his upcoming ReganBooks memoir - from Golan Cipel, his Israeli-born boy-toy aide who allegedly blackmailed the Governor about their affair, resulting in McGreevey coming out. McGreevey recently attended a Lambda Legal Defense Fund benefit on Fire Island where he's rumored to have told pals that he's worried about what Cipel might be writing.
Continue reading "Gay former Governer Jim McGreevey worried Golan Cipel will tell all" »
A Hong Kong High Court judge, Michael Hartmann, has ruled that laws prohibiting gay sex by men under the age of 21 are unconstitutional and that they discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. William Roy Leung, 20, challenged Hong Kong's existing laws on the issue. HK law allows heterosexual and lesbian sex from the age of 16, but anyone under the age of 21 who engages in sodomy could face life in prison. Discriminatory indeeed - and the government says it will study the judgement. Hartmann said the current laws were "demeaning of gay men who are, through the legislation, stereotyped as deviant." 63 men have been arrested under the law in the past five years.
Remember the James Maestas gay bashing? David Trinidad, 17, the only juvenile charged in connection with the incident, entered a guilty plea to aggravated battery, battery, conspiracy and criminal damage to property. Trinidad already has been sentenced to a two-year commitment for violating probation stemming from his raping a 4-year-old boy, and while there isn't specific evidence that Trinidad ever struck Maestas, he is responsible for what transpired. Maestas received a concussion and broken nose, aspirated on his own blood and suffered other injuries and has had to undergo physical and speech therapy. Charges against his five co-defendants are still pending.
Italian gay fashion designer gurus Dolce & Gabbana have hit a new low, with their jeans that is. An advertisement for their fall men's line features low-riding jeans - extremely low-riding jeans, jeans that are being nicknamed "pubic pants" by the fashion press. Veteran adman Jerry Della Femina said the photograph made sense for the envelope-pushing design house. "People are going to find it disgusting, but they're probably not the Dolce crowd," Della Femina said. "This is a campaign that only people who are sort of edgy and want to buy their clothing will see and appreciate."
Turkish belly dancing Big Brother UK loser Kemal has announced that she'll be having a sex change. She's hoping to have the procedure as soon as possible and has already booked herself in to the gender realignment clinic in London. Kemal's parents found out she was gay on national television. Now they've learned she's transgender. A close friend told the Daily Star: "Kemal dressed and acted like a boy before he went on the show. But he was a different person when he left because it gave him a fresh start. But he told us, he'll still feel like he's living a lie unless he has the operation. He's frustrated because his new celebrity status has won him a horde of male admirers, but he doesn't want to be a boyfriend, he wants to be a girlfriend."
Diversity Dayton wanted to make a statement by participating in the Kettering Holiday at Home parade. The LGBT group "wanted to show that Dayton has this community and that we're basically everyday citizens. We're not going to be dressed in shiny club shirts or tight-fitting clothes." God forbid there should be tight fitting clothes, right? And Don Tate, president of the 2005 Kettering Holiday at Home parade isn't having it with or without them.
Continue reading "Gay group has no place in Kettering Holiday at Home parade" »
Bisexual criminal Karla Homolka, Canada's most notorious female offender, has been driven back into hiding after her new boss abruptly exposed her whereabouts and accused her of breaching her release conditions. A Toronto newspaper exposed the schoolgirl killer in a splashy 11-page spread and Homolka's lawyer disclosed that police had advised her to steer clear of hardware store owner Richer Lapointe, due to his criminal past. Yesterday's photo spread included numerous photos of Homolka walking her dog and enjoying ice cream with Lapointe. Homolka abandoned the job immediately and has returned to seclusion.
The lesbian couple who fled Aruba, yet sued the government for the right to have their marriage recognized won their case. Aruba's Superior Court confirmed a lower court's December ruling that the Caribbean island should register the marriage of Charlene and Esther Oduber-Lamers, who were wed in Holland in 2001."The Dutch marriage can be inscribed in the register," read the decision. "Since Aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it must comply with demands of the Kingdom."
Continue reading "Lesbians Charlene and Esther Oduber-Lamers win marriage recognition in Aruba" »
Latasha Byears helped the Los Angeles Sparks win two WNBA championships, then she was accused of rape following a party at her Marina del Rey condo. It ended her career. Meanwhile, a similar allegation would be leveled against Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant by a Colorado hotel worker. The athletes shared more in common than the specter of a criminal trial. They also worked for the same corporate family, an L.A. institution that would treat the two ballplayers—one famous and the other relatively obscure - very differently.
Continue reading "Fallen lesbian WNBA star Latasha Byears cites homophobia" »
For those of you who have not been around here very long, you probably aren't aware of my obsession with Olivia Newton-John. You probably don't even remember when I stalked her outside Davies Symphony Hall the last time she was in town and got her to sign my T-shirt which of course changed my life forever and resulted in my chasing her tour bus like a cheap rock groupie across San Francisco. It's ok. I know I'm not alone in my feelings. My dear friend Miu von Furstenberg and I have shared our love for Olivia across America on more than one occasion, creating an East Coast / West Coast bridge that transcends silly rap wars for a higher realm, a Xanadu if you will. And now, we're sharing in our concern. Her longtime boyfriend Patrick McDermott has gone missing.
Attorney Jill Hersh (left) hugged lesbian parent Kim M. after the California Supreme Court granted Kim full parenting rights for her 9-year-old twins, a historic victory for gay and lesbian rights. "Next to the day my daughters were born, it is the happiest day of my life," the Marin County resident said who hasn't seen or talked to her daughters in nearly a year. Her former partner, who had Kim's fertilized eggs implanted in her uterus and gave birth to the girls, took them to Boston with her in 2001 after they broke up. Two lower courts declined to declare her a parent and her ex, known in court papers as E.G., stopped all telephone calls and visits and even returned gifts Kim sent the girls.
While the Gwen Araujo murder retrial continues, another retrial recently began in Florida - only this one came to a screeching halt yesterday when the two men previously convicted of beating gay waiter Steven Goedereis to death both accepted plea agreements. Bryan Donahue, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder motivated by hatred and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. William Dodge, 24, was sentenced to 16 years pleading guilty to third-degree murder motivated by hatred. Donahue and Dodge both also apologized to the family of Steven Goedereis, 29, whom they murdered in April 1998.
Continue reading "Gay murder victim Steven Goedereis gets justice at last as killers plead guilty" »
"But I'm a Cheerleader" star Natasha Lyonne is fighting for her life in a New York hospital, after being found with hepatitis C, a heart infection, and a collapsed lung. She's also undergoing methadone treatment, which of course implies that she's been, y'know, shooting smack or taking care of some sort of opiate addiction. The official story is that she's contracted hepatitis C while in Bulgaria shooting the 2001 film, "The Grey Zone," but rumor has it she was found recently with track marks on her arms - and for those not in the know, most injection drug users will contract Hep C within mere months of shooting dope.
Continue reading "Natasha Lyonne in hospital for HCV, on methadone" »
Gay author Armistead Maupin is one of the voices of a Starbuck’s diversity celebration campaign called “The Way I See It” that presents little viewpoint stories on their spill prone coffee cups. Watch the politics get tricky here kids. On one hand we have the mega-giant corporation, on the other - The Concerned Women of America has targeted Starbucks for promoting “homosexual values” by including quotes from gay individuals. They're also upset that Starbuck's supported the San Diego gay pride event. “If Starbucks is doing this knowingly, it is blatant irresponsibility … All I could think was ‘Starbucks hates children,’” a delusional reactionary named Meghan Kleppinger wrote. Maupin is quoted saying:
Continue reading "Gay coffee cups get Starbucks in a little hot water" »
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