The Bilerico Project

Adam Lambert kissed a man on TV

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:30:00 -0500

In case you haven't seen, Adam Lambert kissed a boy on TV last night at the American Music Awards.

Wasn't his performance dangerous and edgy?

Haha, just kidding. It's a definite improvement over the last time I saw a TV clip of him, when he found out he lost to Kris Allen and he hugged him and then nodded along like a cow to Kris's victory song. Humility, grace, and respect for a clean and Nice Guy singer that he knew he was better than. I'm sure Morrissey would have done the same if he were in Lambert's position, except he would have had flowers ready to hand over because he would have been prepared to lose graciously.

Continue reading "Adam Lambert kissed a man on TV"...

Sodomy wasn't born yesterday

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Antonin Scalia is apparently doing a speaking tour supporting the "originalist" interpretation of the Constitution, whereby a justice has to use his or her telepathic powers to read the minds of people who died 200 years ago, a power they only use for the fair and correct application of the law. The fact that it ends up being pretty unfair to anyone who isn't a wealthy, white man is pure coincidence - the Constitution just so happened to be written exclusively by rich, white, male idealists because they were just more into writing legal documents back then. Women, the poor, the uneducated, and black people were all invited, but they just didn't turn out. You can imagine how disappointed Thomas Jefferson was.

But one statement that caught my eye was this:

Did any provision of the Constitution guarantee a right to abortion? No one thought so for almost two centuries after the founding. Did any provision in the Constitution guarantee a right to homosexual sodomy? Same answer.

Yes, Scalia's still against the majority in Lawrence. It's funny that he prides himself in being impartial and taking his personal bias out of his decisions since his dissent in that case reads like standard-issue, partisan, homophobic screed that could be used to justify any and all discrimination against gay people. (In fact, he says just that.)

But, hey, we know it's objective because he wrote it. Bias, for self-proclaimed "originalists" and "literalists," is narrowly defined as "the opinions, experiences, or point of view of someone who's not me."

What gets me, though, isn't the fact that Scalia is a conservative trying to impose his will on America through the legal system. That much we knew. It's the ludicrous implication that the Founding Fathers had never heard of sodomy.

Continue reading "Sodomy wasn't born yesterday"...

Chaz Bono explains gender on GMA

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Chaz Bono's interview on Good Morning America.

Queer music Friday - Placebo

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0500

Brian Molko of alternative rock band Placebo announced a long time ago that he was bisexual, but now he regrets it. More on that after the jump.

But here's "Happy You're Gone," from their newest album.

Continue reading "Queer music Friday - Placebo"...

Protect the sanctity of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Maybe the folks working to end DADT ought to draw attention to the folks who abuse DADT. This is from a lesbian in the military:

Looking for a way out of the service isn't a new idea. Since 9/11, soldiers have been going to extraordinary measures to find the quickest way out of a deployment including intentional pregnancies and cutting off fingers. Hell, my unit's chaplain (who was gay, by the way) went AWOL! He ran away with his lover to Canada the night before we left for Iraq. That's a nice morale booster for the soldiers.

During my time in the Army, a large percentage of the DADT investigations were caused by straight soldiers playing the homosexual card to get out of going overseas. These guys would go to the extreme, staging photographs and videos of themselves with other men, or maybe even making out in front of their commander. They were using DADT as a potential free ticket out of a deployment.

Last year I was talking to a single, straight man in the military who was complaining that he got deployed three times more than other officers in his unit because he was single and didn't feel like coming up with an excuse to get out of something he signed up to do. There was still bitterness, though, towards women he said would start a family to get out of deployment, married men who would say that their wives had "mental health issues" that could never be diagnosed so they needed to stay home and care for them, an officer who herself developed a series of undiagnosable maladies, preferential treatment to folks with "families," and colonels sending assignments they were more qualified for down the chain of command.

All because, deep down inside, many people who join the military really don't want to go to war.

Continue reading "Protect the sanctity of Don't Ask, Don't Tell"...

Transgender Day of Remembrance

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Transgender Day of Remembrance is today. 117 transgender people were killed for being who they are this past year.

Follow-ups: Caster, Mary Cheney, Bash Back! vs. Join the Impact, and Perez

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:30:00 -0500

Here are a few random follow-ups to stories we wrote about a Bilerico:

Caster Semenya will keep her prize from her 800m gold in Berlin, but it's uncertain whether she'll be allowed to compete any more as a woman. The IAFF has promised not to leak any more of her private medical information.
With almost no fanfare and at most 5% of noise as the first child, Mary Cheney had her second baby.
And she named the baby Sarah Lynne Cheney. Apparently she didn't like any of your suggestions.
Perez Hilton dropped his charges against the manager of the Black Eyed Peas, who hit the blogger a few months back after Hilton called the straight man a faggot. Violence is never ok, yada yada yada, but if you call someone else a faggot, don't be surprised if they punch back.
Speaking of bashing back, the Bash Back! counterprotested Join the Impact in Minnesota. Priceless quote:

"It feels like it hinders our efforts," Justin Grey Day, a marcher with the JTI-TC group, said in reference to the BB! group's attempts to drown out the larger march's chants.

They're counterprotesting you, sweetheart. The entire point is to hinder your efforts.
The Illinois Family Institute is boycotting Scholastic Books for carrying Luv Ya Bunches, a book that incidentally mentioned the two moms of one of the characters that LGBTQ people got Scholastic to un-ban. Because the only way to show you mean business in this day and age is to start a never-ending boycott that no one will follow.
And the Transgender Day of Remembrance is tomorrow. Check out the site to find an event you can attend.

Judge deals a rhetorical blow to DOMA

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:30:00 -0500

This is a small decision that governs court personnel, but it seems to imply that there is law that is more important than DOMA when it comes to government benefits nonetheless:

A gay lawyer in the federal public defender's office in Los Angeles, denied government health coverage for his husband after their marriage last year, is entitled to extra pay to cover the cost of private insurance, a federal appeals court judge ruled Wednesday.[...]

The federal defender's office refused to add Sears to Levenson's medical, dental and eye care plans, citing the 1996 federal law. Levenson said the denial has cost him $175 to $200 a month to buy private health coverage for Sears.

Reinhardt found the federal law invalid in February and reaffirmed his conclusion Wednesday, rejecting defenses that the Obama administration has offered in court cases.

Check out the ease with which the judge dispels with the notion that there's a rational basis for DOMA:

Continue reading "Judge deals a rhetorical blow to DOMA"...

1982 Sesame Street: "I have one dad... I've got two"

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Dana featured this Sesame Street video from 1982 at her pad. Check out the reference to two dads at around 1:18.

Lambda Legal sues because health care isn't a luxury

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0500

A few months ago, saying they needed to cut spending, the state of Arizona rescinded domestic partner benefits for same-sex partners of state employees. They seemed to forget that it would have saved a whole lot more money if they got rid of family benefits for heterosexual relationships, or, to be fair, for everyone, but this isn't about logic. This is about who's expendable and who's not.

Fortunately, Lambda Legal's suing to prevent the state from creating a system of unequal pay for equal work:

Lambda Legal represents ten state employees -- including from the Arizona Highway Patrol, the State Department of Game and Fish, and state universities -- who rely on health benefits from their employers to keep their families safe.

"This is an issue of equal pay for equal work," said Tara Borelli, staff attorney for Lambda Legal. "By stripping away these vital benefits from loyal state employees, the state isn't just paying them less for the same work than their heterosexual colleagues -- it's pulling away a vital lifeline that all workers need. This is simply cruel and saves the state next to nothing."

More after.

Continue reading "Lambda Legal sues because health care isn't a luxury"...

DC Board of Elections rejects marriage ballot initiative... a model for America?

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

HRC's blog reports that there won't be a ballot initiative on marriage in DC:

Today, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics announced their ruling [pdf] that for a second time that a proposed ballot measure that would undermine marriage equality in the District is not a proper subject for a referendum or initiative. The Board's decision to prevent a measure like California's Prop 8 or Maine's Question 1 from possibly reaching the ballot is strongly supported by D.C. law, which wisely prohibits any initiative that authorizes discrimination or has the effect of authorizing discrimination under D.C.'s Human Rights Act.

Marriage equality opponents tried for another bite of the apple after losing before the Elections Board and in court this past May. Then, opponents - led by Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) - sought a referendum that would have undone the D.C. Council's decision to recognize marriages performed in other jurisdictions. The Board, which is charged by law with determining whether a referendum or initiative is eligible for the ballot, unanimously determined that a vote on whether the District should recognize same-sex marriages would improperly authorize discrimination under the Human Rights Act, one of the prescribed subject matter limitations.

It seems like a good safeguard. While there are many issues that people in general are better at deciding because they have fewer conflicts of interest than legislators who are bought and paid for by various industries do, there are some times when it just doesn't make sense to leave certain choices up to majority rule.

Contrary to what some prominent LGBT writers and activists have been saying, we're not the only group of people to have been targeted by a ballot initiative.

Continue reading "DC Board of Elections rejects marriage ballot initiative... a model for America?"...

First same-sex couple to marry in Latin America will be from where?

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:30:00 -0500

Argentina, of course.

Since I'm the only person of Argentine heritage I can think of in the American LGBT blogosphere, it'd be a shame if I didn't mention this story. A judge in Beunos Aires last Friday ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in the case of HIV/AIDS activists Alex Freyre and José María Di Bello. The mayor has said he wouldn't challenge the ruling, and the couple set the date for December first, World AIDS Day.

It isn't surprising that Argentina's the first - it's the most secular country in Latin America. The AP says that 90% of the country is Catholic, which I'm sure is true if you asked people, but the CIA Wold Factbook clarifies that only 20% of people consider themselves "practicing," which is less religiosity than the US.

What I know less about is how Argentina handles federalist questions. The US is the only other country that allows same-sex marriage in some regions but not in others (Canada used to be like us until it legalized same-sex marriage throughout), so who knows how long this will stand.

Bash Back disagrees with calling vandalism "homophobic"

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0500

Yasmin Nair emailed me a link with the subject: "I think you called this when it first happened..."

Back in September, a Memphis billboard put up by the LGBT community center went from this:

To this:

Folks were quick to point to homophobes, but now the queer group Bash Back, which garnered attention for its confrontational protest in a Michigan church, is ~~claiming credit~~* saying the vandalism wasn't anti-gay.

Continue reading "Bash Back disagrees with calling vandalism "homophobic""...

Not every homophobe beats up gay men after a long day of firing lesbians

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0500

Ta-Nehisi Coates discussed a phenomenon the other day I've been meaning to post about here on Bilerico: droves of straight people in media trying with all their might to prove that folks who go out and vote against same-sex marriage aren't homophobic. It's just their personal opinion on the definition of marriage, but it has nothing to do with LGB people or same-sex relationships themselves.

I've read dozens of commentary along these lines these past few weeks, and it makes me wonder where it's all coming from. Sure, not everyone who showed up and voted "Yes" on Question 1 was going to go round up some queers and beat them up later that day. But is our definition of "prejudice" so narrow that it only includes the most violent and ridiculous of homophobes?

There are obvious corollaries with other movements here, as Coates points out:

The obvious parallel is civil rights. It's quite clear to me that Jim Crow in the South could not have been struck down by a majority vote; interracial marriage was banned in Alabama until 2000, and even then, some 40 percent of Alabamans voted to keep it. It's quite clear to me that Jim Crow in the North, enforced through housing segregation, restrictive covenants, block-busting realtors, and the federal government red-lining could not have been defeated by a majority vote.

Continue reading "Not every homophobe beats up gay men after a long day of firing lesbians"...

Toward a better understanding of age in the gay community

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Buried in a longer throw-away piece on how femmy TV gays are hurting the movement (no, the Bush years weren't just a nightmare - it's really 2009 and someone's still arguing that) is this paragraph on the old-young divide among gays:

For gays, that schism falls along generational lines. Older gays who spent their lives fighting for civil rights continue to want to stand out, to argue that acceptance means nothing if it doesn't apply to the most outré members. Younger men and women, for whom society has been more tolerant, think of themselves as "post-gay," meaning their sexual orientation is only a part of who they are. Last month, gay groups held a march on Washington for marriage. The older folks gave speeches. The younger ones seemed more interested in snapping a Facebook picture of Lady Gaga.

(I'm trying very hard to ignore how he characterized the march as "for marriage" and trying to figure out what a "Facebook picture of Lady Gaga" is.)

It would be easily forgettable as general mainstream media idiocy on gay culture if this sort of (and I use the term loosely) analysis weren't so common among gay folk. Older gays are anti-assimilationist, aggressive hippies! Younger gays just care about living the American dream. Will they ever get along?

It's something that, as a young gay, I've experienced a lot. I don't think a single person in the comments here at Bilerico has ever, ever, ever mentioned my age unless it was meant to discredit me.

Continue reading "Toward a better understanding of age in the gay community"...