Bill on GLBT issues

Occupy movement in NYC has LGBT group very critical of HRC

2012-02-01T17:59:00.000-08:00


There is a branch of the Occupy movement called “Queering
OWS”, link here  offering a “Occupy Guerilla Potluck for Full Equality”, link, and advice to “bring flashlights”.

It has a website “Act on Principles; Turning Principles into Equality; The Pledge for Full LGBT Equality”, link here. 

Their email to me early February 1, 2012 from Todd Fernandez, (no url given for the content) said the following:

"New York, NY, February 1, 2012 - Queer/LGBTIQA2Z Occupy Wall Street, a caucus of the NYC based Occupy Wall Street movement, announced today that it will protest a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Gala honoring Goldman Sachs on Saturday February 4, 2012 at the Waldorf Astoria.

"In contrast to the $650 a plate Gala, the Queer/LGBTIQA2Z Caucus will host a “Guerrilla Potluck” on the sidewalk outside of the prestigious hotel at 50th Street & Park Avenue from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

"The Queer Caucus: 1. Condemns HRC for honoring Goldman Sachs, 2. Calls upon HRC to adopt a strategy of Full Equality by 2014, and 3. Demands that HRC create a transparent process that includes the grassroots.

"1. The Queer Caucus condemns HRC’s decision to honor Goldman Sachs in a time of financial collapse caused by their unethical business practices and greed, and deplores the use of our cause and suffering for corporate public relations. HRC honoring Goldman Sachs at this time reveals all one needs to know about the corporate LGBT lobby, and its disconnect from the 99% and the LGBT people it purports to represent.

"2. The Queer Caucus calls upon HRC to embrace the grassroots demand for Full Federal Equality by 2014 – the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

After 60 years of struggle, there is still not a single federal non-discrimination law protecting LGBT Americans from discrimination. More incredibly, HRC, the corporate entity that controls our strategy, is not even seeking equal protection for our community.

"To address this, the Queer Caucus calls on HRC to take The Pledge for Full LGBT Equality to seek and secure full non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identify for all people.

"The right to be protected from discrimination secures a core liberty interest. And it is the duty of government to protect LGBT Americans from the harm caused by discrimination as a matter of public welfare, law and conscience, as it has for decades for all other oppressed groups.

"As HRC restrains the demand for equality, discrimination takes its insidious toll on LGBT Americans who suffer vast psychological harm rejected by their families and society, driven to suicide at 5 times the heterosexual norm by tormenting, minority stress afflictions, and lost hope.

"A whopping 40% of homeless youth identity as LGBT, 66% of Transgender people have been fired or not hired for a job, 60% of our youth are taunted and feel unsafe at school, and LGBT people are 6x more likely to have multiple mental stress disorders due to societal discrimination.

"Homo/transphobia in America is a public health and economic emergency for our community” said Michael Tikile, an occupier and Duke University graduate. “We are not safe in school, work or housing. How are we supposed to live, pursue happiness or achieve economic equality?”

"3. The Queer Caucus also demand that HRC open the process with transparency and grassroots inclusion.

"Currently, HRC operates under a closed, hierarchical system, controlled by a financial elite, insulated from grassroots input. Likewise, in Congress, Democrat House members Barney Frank, Jared Polis and Tammy Baldwin, keep the grassroots out of the conversation, protecting the DNC strategy from movement agitation and impact.

"With this structure in place, queer occupiers know that only a handful of privileged voices are setting the national queer agenda and strategy, defining what “LGBT equality” means and who our friends are.

"For example, HRC's key sponsors includes a long list of big businesses that contributed to recent economic and environmental distress, including Citi Bank, Bank of America, Chevron, BP, Shell, Morgan Stanley, MetLife, Deloitte, Lexus, Prudential, and Ernst & Young.

“With all of these companies, you’d expect the power to be on our side! But instead, our community is simply a tool and pawn in the political system” said Tanya Walker, an original occupier and tireless transgender activist.

"Simply put, the Queer Caucus demands equal non-discrimination protections under the 1964 Civil Rights Act because equality is the only true antidote to LGBT abuse - like it has proven to be for race, sex, national origin, religion, age and disability – long protected from discrimination by law.

"Equality and non-discrimination are universal values that define basic human dignity” said Todd (Tif) Fernandez, a human rights lawyer and grassroots activist.“It is our civic duty as Americans to protect and respect the LGBT community immediately.”

I was in NYC Dec 1-2 and when I was there Zuccotti Park was mostly empty.

MD: Gay marriage opponents take to the streets, but 50% of state support marriage rights now; NJ: Christie has started a controversy

2012-01-31T13:40:00.000-08:00

WJLA aired a video showing demonstrations (in Annapolis) against the proposed law allowing same-sex marriage in Maryland, as long as excerpts from the legislative session where the governor Martin O'Malley explained how this year’s bill is different – it allows stronger protection for religious groups that don’t want to perform the ceremonies. O'Malley's main argument is that children of same-sex couples should not face discrimination.

The Washington Post has a detailed story today by John Wagner and Peyton M. Craighill, showing that popular support for allowing same-sex marriage in Maryland has actually risen to 50%, link here.

The New York Times ran an important editorial Monday about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s veto of a gay marriage bill likely to pass the legislature in Trenton, link here. It’s questionable whether a veto could be overridden. Christie wants a referendum, apparently one which would follow the pattern of many other states with a constitutional amendment defining marriage (AP story ). New Jersey does recognize civil unions (Wikipedia link). Christie had previously made some apparently unfortunate metaphors in comparing the gay rights movement of the past to violent episodes in the civil rights movement. It’s not clear whether any amendment would affect civil unions.

Christie has generally been considered a moderate Republican, but not too much on this.

In Texas, employment discrimination seems alive and "well"

2012-01-30T08:51:00.000-08:00

There are still some employment cases at public institutions. Lambda Legal is reporting on a case of an instructor, Jacqueline Gill, at Tarrant County College, Hurst Campus, near Ft. Worth Texas, who was told, when not being allowed for a permanent position, that “Texas and Tarrant County College do not like homosexuals”, link (website url) here. The case is "Gill v. Devlin and Howell".

The Dallas Voice has followed a story of a teacher Nichole Williams who claimed she was fired from a charter school, Life School Waxahachie, because she is a lesbian. She settled with the school as related in a story on the Voice Jan, 2011 here. I remember seeing this story in my visit to Dallas in November.

Student article against gay adoption creates a First Amendment fight

2012-01-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

The Huffington Post has a story about a legal fight after a Wisconsin high school removed (from its student school paper) an op-ed against allowing gay couples to adopt children by a student, according to an anti-bullying policy.

The story by Laura Hibbard is here.

One issue is that the student’s piece quoted the familiar passages from Leviticus. The article also talked about “abomination” in the context of a “Christian society”. Is this an example of “fighting word”? Or is it completely protected by the First Amendment?

One irony of all this is apparently there are so many children needing adoption. These kinds of arguments cut both ways.

Minnesota gay marriage battle comes back to court; Santorum misplays the "equality card"

2012-01-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports (story by Kevin Duchshere and Abbey Simmons, with video included) that a lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s laws banning gay marriage will go to trial rather than be dismissed. The story and video is here (may require paywall subscription). The suit had been filed by three same-sex couples. At the same time, social conservatives (as exemplified by Michele Bachmann) are aiming to get a public referendum. (I lived in Minneapolis from 1997-2003.)

Cheryl Wetzstein ("Reproduction rules") has a somewhat detail story in the Tuesday Washington Times here.

When it comes to abstract or ideological arguments about equality, Rick Santorum has put his foot in his mouth (again), now saying that “equality doesn’t come from Islam” (of course not), “but from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”, ABC News story ("The Note") here.

Why does “equality” as HRC promotes it matter, in practice, even to people who live their lives pretty much alone and do OK? Well, without it, others will come knocking on the door and demand that you “sacrifice” for their purposes. That brings back the “second class citizens” theory.

If Romney and Gingrich destroy each other (which is happening now), Santorum could really get in to the nomination. And his statements do not bode well for LGBT people. I’m less worried about Gingrich (despite his 1995 statement about “asking” on the military gay ban) and even less about Romney (“nice try”). But maybe I should be.

Funds being raised for "Second Class Citizens" documentary

2012-01-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

Here is a seven minute preview of “Second Class Citizens”, a documentary by Ryan James Yezak. The trailer has its own name, “The Gay Rights Movement”.

I’ll mention one moment that I haven’t thought about, discussed by attorney Lisa Bloom, the “gay panic defense”.

It opens with the notorious 1967 one hour CBS show by Mike Wallace, “The Homosexuals”, when Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, said, “when we find homosexuals in our department, we discharge them.” It mentions past adoption bans in Florida and Virginia, and the MSM blood donation ban, as well as lesser known points in the saga of “don’t ask don’t tell”, including Bill Clinton’s 1993 “open statement” quote from his July 19 speech. I made a lot of that one phrase in my own book.

(Note, I also passed this along in Facebook, and got a warning from McAfee on the generated “clicktotweet” link at the end of the embed. I would suggest simply tweeting the Youtube link manually.)

Kickstarter has a fundraising post, with a “deadline” of March 9, 2012, here. Yezak says he must raise $50,000 (to qualify for investor money?) I’m not sure this is the best way to fund independent film (the deadline part of it, at least), but that is the way this project has been set up. $138000 has been pledged by over 3300 backers. The link has a shorter trailer where Ryan himself speaks and makes his own pitch.

Filmmaker Gode Davis had a similar effort (no deadline) with his “American Lynching”; I am not sure what will happen to that project given his passing and will check into it further, as well as into this project. Ryan, in his trailers, has mentioned a number of subtle points already that many gay rights activists typically overlook.

There's another shorter video called "It's Time to Think Different" here.

I'll pass along a major contact for the fundraising:

Shae Savin

shae@emcbowery.com

Rosie O'Donnell slams politicians for gay-baiting to "win votes" (interview with Piers Morgan)

2012-01-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

Last night, Rosie O’Donnell, while now discussing her newfound heterosexual interests, told Piers Morgan on CNN that the United States is backward, and that it should not be acceptable for politicians to slam gays to get votes. This no longer happens in other western countries, she said. CNN’s report on the interview is here. O'Donnell hit particularly hard the idea that LGBT people are seen as less "morally worthy" or as "second class citizens" to be expropriated from at will. (See next post.)

Politicians are playing the “scapegoat” game. Knowing that many families are struggling, it’s easy to point at people who appear not to take on the same level of responsibility in their intimate relationships (having and raising children). But appearances are deceptive.

For example, Rick Perry recently told a teenage girl that he was against “gays in the military” simply because “homosexuality is a sin” and then got into the canard of “hating the sin but loving the sinner”, link here on “Mediaite”.

Are gay men less likely to be overweight? Maybe

2012-01-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

I say a story on AOL this morning, “Gay Men Don’t Get Fat”, that is, a book by that title by Simon Donan, from Blue Rider Press, with the link on dot249 here (requires javascript to run).

I you look around a gay disco dance floor, “thin” is definitely in. But that’s probably true of any disco. It sounds like a bizarre thing to notice in these days when the media harps on obesity, particularly in schools.

I have heard of studies that claim that gay men typically weigh about 1-2% less for any given height than the general population. That could be due to lack of marriage (usually -- that's changing) and having someone to cook for. (They used to say, "wait until he gets married" about developing beer guts.) I've heard of anecdotal remarks that gay men may be taller than average (genetic concordances of some kind?) On any large disco, it seems like there are always a few men say 76 inches and taller. That's not just in Minnesota (the Saloon and the 90's), either.

On the other hand, there is a story in Science Daily to the effect that gay men are more likely to have eating disorders.

I remember being finicky as a child. I didn’t like “lumpy” food or “breakfast in restaurants”. (One of the worst was in some town on the Virginia-North. Carolina border when I was about 8.) After a stomach upset (a tendency which I outgrew completely as an adult -- no “Carnage” or “Bridesmaids” please), father always fixed poached eggs.

And in these days of high TV production costs, it seems like the networks are turning to cooking shows as they cancel soaps. Remember “Homemaker’s Exchange” in the 1950s?

Picture: retrospect, Baltimore Pride, 2011

Blade reports on some unfortunate incidents in DC community

2012-01-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

The idea of a “gay gang” sounds like an oxymoron, but Lou Chibbaro, Jr. has (in the Jan. 13 Washington Blade, p. 4) a brief story about a youth gang that committed various pickpockets around the Verizon Center that has changed its ways and will go into an entrepreneurial venture with fashion, link here.

Last summer, someone attempted to pickpocket me in the area. They didn’t get anything. I reported the incident to Metro Transit police.

Chibbaro also reports an incident at Remington’s (SE of Capitol, CW bar), apparently Jan. 6 or 7, where a patron was disturbing others on the dance floor, and then punched the manager when the latter tried to intervene. The person has been charged with misdemeanor assault. To my knowledge, such incidents in DC gay bars are rare. But a few straight bars in Washington DC have (unfairly, I think) lost liquor licenses because of violence outside their premises, which might not even have started in the bars, so any incident like this is unwelcome. I did see a fight in a gay bar in Soho in London in 1982.

OK: legislator wants to apply repealed DADT to state national guard (had failed in VA)

2012-01-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

It’s happened again. Lightning strikes twice in about the same place. This had been tried in Virginia, but now Oklahoma representative Mike Reynolds introduced a bill in the legislature saying that no one ineligible to serve under the now repealed DADT law (10 United States Code 654 special enclosure) may serve in the Oklahoma national guard.

Oklahoma may be OK when it comes to a person’s right to defend his or her home from invasion, but not at gay rights.

David McKean, legal director at SLDN, has some analysis of why this would not survive court challenge here, in a column “Can they do that?”.

The bigger challenge could come in 2013 if a GOP candidate hostile to gays (particularly Santorum) wins the presidency. He could not only unrepeal the repeal, he could send the military back to asking, to the 1981 Old Ban. Newt Gingrich actually proposed that in 1995 or 1996, and Keith Meinhold, then in the fight, sent out emails warning of possible "forced outings".

Remember, in the 90s, Greta Cammermeyer ("Serving in Silence", a book and TV film) had been a medical officer in the Washington State National Guard. The Lambda Legal link on Cammermeyer v. Perry is worth a visit, here.

Girl Scouts' admission of transgendered members creates a flap selling cookies

2012-01-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

Remember the James Dale case before the Supreme Court around 2000 concerning his exclusion from the Boy Scouts? The argument was what private organizations may do, and then what they may do if they take public funds.

Recently, there’s been quite a twist. Some people have wanted to boycott girl scout cookies from troops that accept transgender members. For example “Addicting Info” has this story by Justin Rosario here.

Slate has a similar story by Amanda Marcotte.

Washington DC station WJLA-7 (ABC) has a poll on the question, and every single comment made there has been flagged by someone as “abuse”.

My own mother, in Ohio in the 1920s, belonged to Camp Fire Girls.

And yes, I have often bought girl scout cookies, usually at work from parent-coworkers. Selling food or beverages informally is a basic business; the very first "Apprentice" show with Donald Trump featured selling lemonade!

Update: Jan. 17

The Washington Times actually ran a commentary on this, and it's pretty silly, by Cathy Cleaver Ruse, "Say no to Girl Scout Cookies; left wing political agenda undermines girls, families", link here. It's striking to me how people think that they're own ability to have and keep the marriages they say they want are undermined by what distant other people choose to do.

MSN runs story on how men and women are so biologically different; what about LGBT?

2012-01-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well,, MSN has a story today by Anna Breslaw, “Men and Women are different species”, link here. If so, immutability arguments about homosexuality become even more frail.

It seems as though the primary traits listed for men and women are a bit (to use a favorite vocabulary word form George Gilder), “fungible”. For example, a man might be “rule-conscious” and “vigilant” and “utilitarian” but not be “dominant”. Welcome to the world of the psychological polarities of Paul Rosenfels. Either men or women can be psychologically masculine or feminine, and either can be objective or subjective. We already have a cube of eight possible combinations. In this mathematical scenario, opposites may attract. But a submissive male may enjoy the domination of someone he idealizes, and that could be another male (psychologists call that “upward affiliation”). That context understood, there’s no reason relationships can’t be lifelong and provide a parental environment for children in the home.

I thought I would pass along this Washington Post blog posting by Mark Driscoll, "Why men need marriage", although it sounds like it could have been written by George Gilder in the 1980s, link here. His metaphor about trucks is interesting, if misstated.

Santorum's views on "rights" v. "privileges" become a canard, possible effect on gay issues for military, marriage, parenthood, even privacy, if he were elected

2012-01-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

“Freedom to Serve” tweeted these remarks by surprising GOP candidate Rick Santorum. Yes, there were boos at the end of his comments, but they were underwhelming.

Here, Santorum describes serving the military as a “privilege” and the same for “marriage”. Society has special rules and offers special benefits, Santorum says, for the “common good”.

Santorum’s philosophy has been said to be related to the Catholic idea of “subsidiarity” (Issues blog, Jan. 4).

The problem is, “subsidy” comes at ultimate or eventual expense to others. Santorum says rights and privileges are different, and he won’t take away anyone’s “rights”. But some things are not “rights” if they seem to point to individual excess when viewed against common welfare, he seems to say. (He has questioned the decision in Lawrence v. Texas.) Ultimately, his ideas invite intrusions back into the personal lives and spaces of people. Further, in a sense, fitness for military or similar service is arguably a moral obligation (it was, at least for men, when I grew up). Fitness to take care of other generations and a personal stake in future generations could be viewed as a moral obligation. The Vatican’s ideas about moral teachings reflect that belief.

Santorum is “scarier” right now than any other candidate. (Gingrich has been perceived as scary, but in a different way; Bachmann is out.) Romney seems to be willing to leave his religion at home when in office, at least so far.

The economy does seem to be improving slowly, with better employment prospects for many people, and that development bodes better for Obama’s re-election. But, economic problems in Europe or China or oil prices due to Iran could wind up having a real impact on the rights of gay people starting in 2013.

Town DC is packed, crowd seems "new"; New Years Eve goes rather quietly; Hawaii, Delaware allow same-sex civil unions

2012-01-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

This year, I tried the TownDC’s New Year’s party, a personal first (Cobalt in previous years). Bought the ticket online from a service website in FL; it winds up saving “just’ $2.50. Used Metro this time, all went pretty smoothly.

I got there about 10:40 PM and it was already packed downstairs. The drag show, featuring Lady Gaga songs and maybe “Sister Act”, was brief and over by 11. I was downstairs during the countdown.

Upstairs, where neon rings were getting circulated, was also packed. The crowd seemed to start thinning a little around 1 AM.

Apologies, if I was a bit boorish on brushing off one unwelcome kiss (not a “Judas Kiss”).

There were some guys, a little zonked, who definitely needed to take advantage of the free taxi service. I hope they did.

One highlight came around 12:30 AM with song "HELLO" and the "short film" that goes with it.

Outside, we saw the entrepreneurial free market work the way it should. In front of the Nine bar, a Pizza truck pulled up at 1:30 AM as a huge line developed for food.

In coming days, I've have to answer a disturbing and snarky LTE in the Washington Times from Dec 30 (once the LTE appears online and I can do some "fact checking"). In California, school systems have to teach some history of the gay movement.

Also, Hawii and Delaware today joined the list of five states that allow same-sex civil unions (six allow gay marriage). Hawaii calls it "partners in life". Josh Levs of CNN has the story:

Catholic group in Illinois would close down rather than comply with laws on non-discrimination against gays as parents

2011-12-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

MSNBC and the New York Times have a story by Laurie Goodstein to the effect that affiliates of Catholic Charities in Illinois are closing down rather than comply with state laws not to discriminate against same-sex couples (or gays) in placing children for adoption or into foster care, link here. The Catholic bishops say that the state limits "freedom of religion".

I remember a conversation in the spring of 1980 at Catholic Charities on Oak Lawn Ave in Dallas about the Cuban refugee issue at the time, when the counselor said that my statement that I am gay "ended the discussion".

The media (as with NBC Washington's "Wednesday's Child") is increasing pressure on the public for people to adopt, and gays and lesbians definitely get a mixed message. In Minnesota, I recall bus stop signs encouraging singles to adopt.

GOP Congressman urges LGBT people to get "thicker skins" on bullying

2011-12-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

The HRC, in an email regarding candidates it supports, mentioned its opposition to Rep. Steve King (R-IA) saying that LGBT people need a “thicker skin” about bullying. The link is here. King was also "upset" about the developments on gay marriage in Iowa.

I guess for King, double standards and hypocrisy are SOP.

I googled around for some other reports of “thicker skin” comments and found one back in 2009 about a teacher in Illinois disciplined for an anti-gay slur. But a right wing column weighed in against the student affected and then ranted about how homosexuality is God’s chosen “trial” assigned to some people, as if they get to decide what everyone’s “dues” are to be, with the link on Blogger (by Alvin McEwen) here.

I usually don’t get into campaigns for or against specific candidates for their $$$, that’s not my calling in life or “gift of the Spirit”. But the HRC story, in my Gmail, certainly caught my eye today.

UK lifts gay male blood donation ban; US keeps ban despite rapidly rising need for blood, especially for bone marrow transplants, as medical technology advances quickly

2011-12-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

Recent media stories about donated blood shortages, particularly related to increased needs because of increase ability of medicine to perform bone marrow transplants (as reported by the NBC Today show regarding NIH), have renewed interest in looking at the FDA ban on accepting blood donations from MSM (effectively, “gay men”) since 1983.

The ban would apply even to those negative for HIV antibodies and antigens.

The government says that HIV is still about sixty times as prevalent among gay men as the general population.

It’s not clear this is reliable, but the success of many medications (such as protease inhibitors, especially newer ones) is making the problem less visible to the public.

The FDA bans donations for only a year after heterosexual contact with someone with HIV.

The Red Cross urges a policy of a one-year wait after an MSM event.

The December 5, 2011 USA Today story is here.

Britain lifted the automatic ban on gay male donors in September 2011, story .

NBC News reports repeal of DADT going well

2011-12-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

NBC Nightly news offered a three minute report on the first year after the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was passed, and three months after official certification.

In Norfolk, VA at the Navy Base (not the bastion of social liberalism, in Pat Robertson country), two lesbian soldiers had a party on ship. One young man came out to his parents from Afghanistan and his YouTube video went viral. The ability to speak freely about the matter on social media has become an important aspect of the repeal.

Without social media (particularly Facebook and its insistence on Zuckerberg’s own theory of integrity), and without the persistence of self-published bloggers (who just wouldn’t go away) like me for years – I wonder if the repeal could have happened.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Dec. 26 issue of the Washington Times plays devils advocate with an article by Rowan Scarborough, "Three months on, 'don't ask' repeal gets mixed reviews", link here.

Town DC light on Christmas decorations; Manning case takes a gender-bending twist

2011-12-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

Well, Merry Christmas!

Last night, the Town DC did not have Christmas decorations downstairs (even though Dec. 17) but did have a snowflake pattern of decorations on the upstairs disco.

A young man downstairs said he recognized me from Dallas (where I traveled recently – perhaps he had been at the Station 4) and asked how old I was. How boorish! I said “I won’t say”. He said it was remarkable that I was still “clubbing”.

There was a lot of attention to Metro Weekly's Cover Boy vote, won by Tyler Coffery (link). There was the usual audience contest, not synonymous.

Saturday a couple of major stories about Bradley Manning surfaced -- even on my cell phone as I was there. The contrast between the frivolity of events at the disco and the gravity of the issue was striking at the moment I saw the story. One story is a Daily Beast story about why so much material is classified to begin with this link.

More curious is the military courts-martial defense strategy to bring up Manning’s gender identity, which should not be confused with sexual orientation. The CNN story is by Larry Shaughnessy, here.

The case is important for gays in the military in the sense that if a GOP candidate wins the election in 2012, he or she could try to manipulate the appearance of this case to try to justify reimposing the military ban – with asking.

Also:

Freddie's Beach Bar in Arlington is indeed well decked out for Christmas.

CNN airs interview with Tyler Clementi's parents

2011-12-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Tyler Clementi’s parents spoke to CNN, the AC360 program tonight, to correspondent Jason Carroll. The defendant in the criminal case, Dharun Ravi, has refused a plea bargain that would avoid jail time if convicted, so there will be a trial in northern New Jersey in February.

The parents have created a Tyler Clementi Foundation, link here.

During the broadcast, Tyler’s room at his parents’ home was shown, still as it was, as were very brief clips of his violin playing.

Eighth grader's video on being bullied gets national attention via Lady Gaga

2011-12-09T05:42:00.000-08:00

ABC Good Morning America covered the story of Jonah and his YouTube video about getting bullied.

Perez Hilton and Lady Gaga came to his support. The latest story is that Nick Jonas had provided a cover for Lady Gaga’s song “Born this Way”, link here.

Here’s a site to download Lady Gaga’s song to iTunes; I think it’s 99 cents and legal, here.

Jonah said that the bullying had started in First Grade. After Lady Gaga’s support, the principal of his middle school (he is now in 8^th grade) finally agreed to do something about the problem.

My own experience with the teasing was its worst from third grade through ninth grade. In senior high school (which for me stared in 10^th grade, at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington VA) it stopped completely.

Remember, about this time last year, the Senate was holding its hearings on repealing "don't ask don't tell". Certainly, over the years, the military gay ban contributed to a climate that seems to excuse bullying. But it hasn't gone away that quickly. As a substitute in northern Virginia, I saw very little bullying (outside of some special ed situations) compared to the rest of the country.

On ABC, "traditional girl" gets first dates to get free meals -- bringing back all the old questions about gender roles

2011-12-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning, ABC GMA presented the tall tale of a young woman who would date as many young men (on first dates, after finding them on match.com) as possible to get dinner bought, and get free meals. “I’m a traditional girl” she said.

When I had my spell of heterosexual dating in the fall of 1971, we didn’t go Dutch, and I found the whole thing a bit of a performance. Oh, yes, after seeing “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (United Artists, dir. John Schelsinger, rather startling at its time for depicting a love triangle with a “gay” corner , review), I made a point of walking on the outside (street) side going back to the car with my female date – whose father had at one time tried to offer me a sandwich.

And then, when I got into the whole William and Mary expulsion and NIH therapy thing in 1962 – it is still striking to me today how disruptive it was to “them” that I wouldn’t go along and indulge their world of gender roles. It was more of a problem for them that I did NOT share their passions and impulses, than it would have been had I been “normal” and caused a pregnancy – and attendant responsibility. How ironic. I had become the alien anthropologist, the detached observer, motivated by a world of fantasy capable of judging the fitness of every single male for continuing the species – while not sharing their risk of creating responsibility. If I wasn’t “competitive” enough to function in a social group as a proper male, so weren’t a lot of other males. This whole idea was very disturbing to them. But in those days, families were bigger, external threats were real, constant labor was needed to secure the family, and everyone had to share it. It wasn’t surprising that all of this got tied to gender roles and then longterm martial sexuality, which socialized everyone else.

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Major League Baseball adds protection from sexual orientation discrimination to CBA

2011-12-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

Major League Baseball has agreed to add protection from sexual orientation discrimination to its agreements for players and employees. The wording of Article XV Section A now will read “The provisions of this agreement will apply to all players covered by this agreement without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, or sexual orientation.”

The New York Daily News story is here.

The Agreement document PDF is here and the new language should appear on p. 52 at any time.

The National Football League recently added a similar clause to its Collective Bargaining Agreement.

World AIDS Day -- US is behind the 8-ball

2011-12-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

On World AIDS Day, CNN has a report on ADAP, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, and the long waiting lists in some states, such as Florida. In other states, like Ohio, the waits are shorter because the qualifications are more restrictive.

CNN’s link is here.

The Syracuse newspaper blog discusses a CDC contention that the US is lagging some other advanced countries in anti-HIV treatment, and , among the 1.2 million people in the US infected, only about 28% have the virus stopped and in full remission. Here’s their link.

Treatment typically costs about $50000 a year. But side effects (including skeletal muscle deterioration and the “protease paunch”) have become much more manageable in recent years. Many HIV-infected people stay at work indefinitely, sometimes for decades, and others cannot know they are infected unless they are told.

In the meantime, the shift in attention for care shifts from PWA’s (as in the 1980s and 90s) to the elderly, particularly those with Alzheimers, with unmarried or childless people, often LGBT, doing much of the caregiving. Alzheimer’s is the next gigantic public health problem on the horizon.

PWA’s, as well as people on chemotherapy or the very elderly, could be at additional danger because of an increasing trend among parents not to vaccinate children.

Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, marks the beginning of meteorological winter; but in the northeast (as well as LA with the Santa Ana winds) a warm autumn continues. It’s not very Christmas-looking.

DOMA challenges federalism, could still encourgage employment discrimination; amicus brief in MA

2011-11-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

As part of a libertarian effort to discredit government mandated benefits and regulations as a drag on the economy, the Storey Institute has written a posting about the indirect costs of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), here. Employers would have to pay slightly higher salaries to employees in a same-sex marriage to overcome the higher taxes on partner health benefits (when they are exempted to opposite sex partners) which could lead to reluctance to hire employees involved in same-sex marriage in states that recognize it.

The issue here is that the federal government is not fully recognizing some state prerogatives (as defining marriage law) as was accepted under federalism.

But even I at one time thought it was better to let states “experiment” without impinging federal law, because I thought that progress in gay marriage could occur gradually, state by state, which has in a sense happened.

Otherwise there might be no progress at all—the “all of nothing” or “no part credit” problem.

Moorfield Storey’s blog post is here.

The story appeared on the listserver for GLIL (Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty) on Yahoo! today.

Here’s an amicus brief for the Challenge to DOMA in the First Circuit (Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. US Dept of Health and Human Services), link .

Society's double standards, old boy networks, and homophobia

2011-11-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

Today, Andrew Sullivan appeared on Chris Matthews, and made the comment that one of Sandusky’s victims at Penn State was being bullied for allowing himself to become the “cause” of the fall of Penn State football. This sounds like “string logic” carried into moral absurdity as far as possible. But it also illustrates how deeply divided our society still can be when it lives by “double standards” (or frankly contradictory standards) of conduct. Doing what is right as an individual is not always what expresses loyalty and cohesion for the group.Sullivan’s Daily Dish has a blog entry (“Is Penn State only a symptom?” )that refers to a few other commentaries on the “old boy network” problem, link here.

But there is more than just the “old boy” problem. People in larger groups tend to assume someone else will act, or that the “crowd” or “herd” (even “nerd herd”) knows more than the individual. On Nov. 17, Washington Blade Editor Kevin Nash gave an example of a political science professor at Penn State who opened a classroom window on a subzero day, and found everyone afraid to ask her to close it (see Nov. 24 here).

There is a natural tension between individual self-compass and sharing the values of a group. That’s a definite quandary for society, because shared purpose is important for sustainability.

The New York Times has an interesting piece today about the old double standard, particularly as it applied to homosexuality in the old, pre-Stonewall days (and sometimes still does). Baltimore native Dudley Clendinen has an opinion piece “J. Edgar Hoover ‘Outed’ My Godfather”. Clendinen questions how far Hoover’s relationship with Tolson really went (as in the recent film), but Hoover definitely kept files on private lives and hunted down suspected homosexuals in government, at least through the 1950s. (Yes, Hoover, the ultimate hypocrite, eptomized the "double standard".) It didn’t take too much to draw suspicion – not dating women (having “roommates” was common enough then, but still attracted negativity). The link is here. It has always struck me as an odd paradox that homosexuality was regarded by some as the ultimate sin and threat to society. Why? Someone like me could not be credible competition for someone’s wife or even girlfriend, or a direct threat to a marriage. Someone like me was not going to create a baby and abandon it. Was it because someone like me reminded other men that they could “fail physically” or experience real submission? Was it because some who was perceived as unlikely to reproduce was a potential burden and drag on the family, or threat to its vicarious immorality? Was it because (as I experienced things during William and Mary and the aftermath at NIH) I was refusing to experience affection for or interest in less-than-perfect people when it would normally be socially expected? Was my own personal “fantastic perfectionism” the penultimate threat?

VA: conservative control could become problematic for non-discrimination in schools; Black Friday; help for Occupy DC

2011-11-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

Lou Chibbaro, Jr. had a major story in the Nov. 17 Washington Blade, front page, to the effect that Christian conservatives were back in control in Virginia state politics, story link here.

In the Virginia Senate there was a 20-20 tie, with the lieutenant governor having the ability to cast the “ping pong win” vote. But one of the candidates who lost in the GOP was himself openly gay (Nov. 4).

Virginia, remember, passed the anti-gay-marriage Marshall Newman amendment in 2006. (There is a curious twist, that Marhsall-Newman could be construed as inadvertently nullifying some of the state’s filial responsibility law, never enforced; some day I’ll get into this.) Now there are concerns that conservatives could try to ban “gay-straight” alliances in public schools (some northern Virginia schools, in generally more moderate to liberal areas, have them), attempts to ban adoption by gay parents, or attempts to roll back anti-discrimination policies (with respect to sexual orientation) at state colleges and universities. This last possibility is relevant to my recent visit to William and Mary (Oct. 21-22) as WM GALA celebrated its 25^th anniversary.

As for the clubs, it seems that Black Friday is as busy as any other weekend night (despite people leaving for a long weekend). At least, the Cobalt was packed by midnight. I overheard a conversation about an ongoing effort to supply meals to protestors at Occupy DC. I don’t know the specifics, but it’s good to hear that this is going on.

I still have memories of Dallas. The JR's Club in Dallas is four times the size of the same in DC. But that.s Dallas, where real estate is cheaper.

Top two pictures: Old Dominion University, Norfolk; sorry for the technical glitch in the upper picture.

LCR on "It gets better". You have to make your own reality

2011-11-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

A Washington Blade viewpoint by two people connected to Log Cabin Republicans on anti-gay bullying in schools deserves careful attention. The authors are Robert Turner, president of the DC Chapter of LCR, and Mike Hubbard, on the DC LCR board, with title “How does it get better? The answer isn’t so simple”, with link here . In print, the piece appears on p. 20 Nov. 18.

The authors point out that gay teens often cannot get the support of their parents, who may see a kid’s homosexuality as an unfavorable reflection on their own marriage, or at least as not part of their vision of the “good life” for their “family”. This is a frank and blunt assessment, but all too true. People are influenced by the cultural norms passed down to them, and do not know how to make moral judgments of their own.

The authors say that if you want your life to get better, you have to take ownership of it – a pretty libertarian, Cato-Institute-like idea. Play sports, or perhaps chess (keep up with those openings!), or perform drama or music, or compose, or write. “Create your own reality”, a phrase which someone once announced was the essence of witchcraft. And a lot of people don’t seem to get the opportunity, or even have the smarts, to do just that.

One observation that strokes me is that anti-gay bullying in public schools is being reported more just as, for grownups, gains occur: the repeal of "don't ask don't tell" for gays in the military, and progress across the nation on gay marriage and even gay parents.

Thanksgiving at MCC Washington DC

2011-11-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today, I visited MCC Washington (Metropolitan Community Church of Washington DC) for the first time since my mother’s passing at the end of 2010.

Reverend Dwayne Johnson gave the message.

At 1 PM, we held a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner, pot luck. But at least one turkey did not get a pardon.

One person was trying to recall the rules for table setting – it’s all in an Emily Post book from the 1940s, and our parents taught this to all of us. But these days, many of us have a lot less formality in our lives.

We had a lot of discussion about not so much gay issues but the total ineptitude of our Congress, where partisanship keeps it from getting anything done at all. That’s ironic in a year where DADT was finally formally repealed.

In the early 1990s, the church built the current open-viewed building on Ridge St. in Shaw. Rev. Larry Uhrig was the pastor then. Uhrig had run a paid editorial in the Blade “There is no better half” – on the importance of being one’s own person regardless of having a partner – that’s a message that doesn’t wear as well today in the retreat from hyperindividualism. Uhrig would pass away at the end of 1993, and I remember his memorial service at the Church on New Year’s Day 1994, when people from the Clinton administration came.

Previously, the church had met in a row house on M Street. I once played piano there for a couple services (being late once). On the movies blog, Sept. 14, 2007, there is a review of a short film “415 M St” by Stephanie Slewka, that played in DC Shorts that month, about the old property.

This past week’s Washington Blade (which I had missed until today because of the Texas trip) has a great op-ed by Kevin Naff, himself a Penn State alumus, on the scandal there, as well as coverage of the first Marine Corps ball with same-sex partners, and also of the political climate in Virginia. More to come.

In my Dallas revisit: I see that: both the Cathedral of Hope and First ("Southern") Baptist Church expand

2011-11-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Monday, while driving in downtown Dallas, I happened by the First Baptist Church of Dallas, originally established in 1890. It may be one of the largest in the SBC, with over 4000 members. Gay rights activists have derided it as the “First Southern Baptist Church”. In more than one sermon at MCC Dallas in the 1980s, Rev. Don Eastman explained how the Baptist denomination had split over slavery and segregation.

In fact, I lived in Dallas from 1979-1988. When my parents visited in 1979, my father wanted to attend a service there, so we did. Pastor W. A. Criswell gave one of his 40 minute sermons.

One Sunday night in late 1980, Criswell gave a radio sermon on homosexuality. As one can imagine, it was not very nice listening, given the values of the time. I remember his saying that he was befuddled by how it had become acceptable, and that it should fade into insignificance. That’s a clue to how some people feel: that the freedom of others to live by very different psychological norms can deep-six their own ability to make and stay interested in lifelong marital sexual commitments. “I can only do the right thing if you have to play by my rules.” To an individualist, such an admission sounds like a character weakness.

The FBC in downtown Dallas is undergoing enormous expansion. The building dwarfs what dazzled me at Sunday’s visit to the Cathedral of Hope, which long since left MCC and since 2007 has been a congregation of the United Church of Christ. While I was at COH Sunday, I saw some pictures of the history. I hadn’t realized that the old MCC Dallas had left the property (with Butler building) in Oak Lawn on Reagan St (ironic) in 1989, shortly after I left Dallas.

Just above, MCC Dallas when I lived there; below, a modern picture of the Cathedral of Hope.

and, below, the new Chapel of Peace:

Why does the Dallas "gay crossroads" boom in a conservative city? (It's one of the largest in the nation)

2011-11-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Dallas in the 1980s, Cedar Springs and Throckmorton in Oak Lawn was the “gay crossroads”. The bars were Magnolia’s (to become The Roundup), JR’s, Village Station, and Throckmorton Mining Company, TMC. The Crossroad’s Market was the gay retail and bookstore.

Today the intersection is one of the largest and most modern “gay crossroads” in the nation. Much of it is owned by Caven Enterprises, still. Everything looks brand new. JR’s is two adjoining properties (in Washington DC it is still just one, because local interests resist expansion of nightlife). JR's has a balcony upstairs with an odd proximity to power lines, which could almost be touched, and are safe only for ungrounded mockingbirds. If Hollywood needed to film a scene involving a risk like this, it would come to JR's.

Outdoors, there are a lot of obvious modernizations on the strip, and relocations, as well as new retail businesses. "Everything is up to date in Dallas", not just Kansas City.

The TMC has moved, and the former TMC is Sue Ellen’s (from the character on the TV series “Dallas”).
SueEllen's is effectively the women's bar, and has a recital hall on the second floor (you could do a piano concert there). A "Lite Band" was there playing, with one of the musicians saying he wanted to play in G Minor.

The Village Station (aka Old Plantation) is now the S4, or Station 4, possibly based on the idea that in the Army the S4 is the quartermaster (in deference to repeal of “don’t ask don’t tell”). It is one of the largest and newest gay discos in the nation.

The Roundup is still where it was in the 80s, and, as a CW place (yes, probably with weeknight square dancing lessons, allemands and Virginia Reels included), the lights stay on. The expansive look indoors when packed gives one the feeling of being in a movie set. Late at night, the bar sometimes switches back to Lady Gaga-type music, and the "dirty dancing", for about an hour, gets more aggressive and public and existential than anywhere else.

Why do are gay businesses in conservative Dallas (eg. Lawrence v. Texas and 21.06 repeal)? One big reason, besides the large young professional and collegiate population of a major city, is that real estate prices are lower than in many other places. There is more room, more land, more physical space. It costs less to build these spaces in cities like Dallas and Houston than in many other places, especially in Washington and New York. Lower real estate prices in an area obviously benefit some businesses and some people, and the gay bar business is doing better probably because of the mortgage crisis and fall in real estate prices almost everywhere. The neighborhood between Oak Lawn and downtown has a lot of new condos (and streetcars) and looks to be in great shape.

By comparison, it costs $10-12 to park in a supervised lot in Dallas near the bars; in Washington DC it's $15-20.

(note: url title of post has "book" instead of "boom" because of an initial typo.)

Newt Gingrich has wanted to resume "asking" on military ban

2011-11-17T06:27:00.000-08:00

"Newbie" and "oldboy" conservative GOP presidential candidate attracted bad attention with the fees he had charged Freddie Mac (after saying people like Barney Frank should go to jail over similar interests),

Gingrich reinforces the concern over a possible "un-repeal" of "don't ask don't tell" if one of several GOP candidates wins in 2012. For gays in the military, it would be like a Dec. 21 2012 pole shift.

In 1995, shortly after a midterm GOP Congress took over during the Clinton administration, Gingrich suggested going back to "asking" when people join the military. I remember hearing the speech on my car radio as I pulled into an Arlington shopping center. Then, we heard people like PO Keith Meinhold have to make statements opposing "forced outings" which in fact often happened under "don't ask don't tell".

For those concerned about "family values" and filial responsibility, the story of Newt and his treatment of his cancer-stricken wife, analyzed by Justin Elliot in Salon recently, might be interesting, link.

Dallas Cathedral of Hope pastor offers perspective on repeal of DOMA

2011-11-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

The Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson, of the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, TX, now a congregation of the United Church of Christ, has an important commentary on the call for the repeal of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, link here.

She says that neither house of Congress is likely to be able politically do to the right thing now.

She also makes some acute comments on other areas, including not only the lifting of “don’t ask don’t tell”, but also gay parents and foster parents. She comments on the inability of unwillingness of school districts to control bullying. She also notes that in the minds of some (religious) people, homosexuality is “the only unforgiveable sin.” It has also struck me, especially given some of my own history (the William and Mary expulsion often discussed in these blogs – see Oct. 22), that the historical preoccupation with homosexuality seems anomalous when compared to the rest of most of western moral teachings. Most moral issues today have to do with making choices and dealing with the consequences of these choices when they affect other people directly. Even though it may usually have a religious rationalization, ideas about gender conformity seem to have to do with a system of thought that requires everyone to “fit in” to a social structure, so that everyone else feels motivated to make and keep the common emotional commitments expected of them.

The 2005 book by Paul Robinson, “Queer Wars: The New Gay Right and Its Critics” (University of Chicago Press” has an interesting analysis of this perspective, discussing Oxford’s John Finnis, and E. I. Patullo. Robinson writes, on p 50:

"Homosexuality ... threatens the way straight couples need to understand the role of sex in their lives and its social implications. 'The deliberate genital coupling of persons of the sex is repudiated because ... it treats human sexual capacities in a way which is deeply hostile to the self-understanding of those members of the community who are willing to commit themselves to real marriage in the understanding that the sexual joys are not mere instruments to, or mere compensations for, the accomplishment of marriage's responsibilities, but rather enable the spouses to actualize and experience their intelligent commitment to share in those responsibilities, in that genuine self-giving.' "

This may sound like a mouthful of words, but it seems to say something like, “I can’t do what I think I should do unless everyone else has to do the same thing.”

Wikipedia attribution link for picture of Palo Duro canyon near Amarillo, TX (Although in 1983, a state representative from Amarillo introduced one of the most antigay bills ever, HR 2138, trying to ban gays from everything after the advent of AIDS; I was living in Dallas at the time.)

Fragile protections for privacy could undermine legal framework for gay rights some day

2011-11-14T08:38:00.000-08:00

Law professor Jonathan Turley at George Washington University has a piece on p B3 of the Sunday Washington Post, “Are you being watched? It’s your fault.”

He starts with a GPS case before the Supreme Court, and is critical of the public for frittering away the right to privacy – both to surveillance devices, and on the Internet. He mentions the fact that the government has the physical capability to use heat sensors to track movements of people within buildings and homes. The Supreme Court had ruled only 5-4 that this could not be done in a warrantless fashion back in 2001.

The thermal imaging or infrared tracking might be relevant to the way gay rights used to be argued – on privacy grounds. I think I had heard of the imaging technology as far back as 1993, about the time the military ban was getting debated, and the issue “privacy” – and whether it exists in a practical sense off base for military members, and in a broader sense for civilians – would remain a dependable legal buttress. Libertarian ideas had been predicated on it. Conceivably, if the government really did have the right to use imaging behind walls (in either civilian or military contexts), some of the logic in Lawrence v. Texas could unwind. It’s not a pretty sight.

The debate over gay equality has moved out of the old-fashioned privacy area into more general theories about the value of diversity, and the importance of equality on an individual level.

It's curious, to me at least, that some people see interdependence on others as a kind of right, because it's necessary for society to sustain itself. Within any social unit -- the family -- complementarity, and some sort of local "inequality" -- becomes necessary. And within a social unit, by definition, there is less privacy.

And now we wonder how committed we are to both equality and privacy on a global scale, where everyone is looked at as an individual.

The link is here.

SLDN publishes definitive guide to military service by LGBT people, effective with 9-20 repeal; in some cases, courts-martial could actually be more likely

2011-11-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

SLDN has published a new PDF guide “Freedom to Serve: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Military Service,” with the download link (website url) here. It was completed July 27, 2011 but SLDN says that it takes (or took) effect on Sept. 20, 2011, the date that repeal was official (and was celebrated). This supersedes earlier publications, like the former “Survival Guide”.

The guide runs 49 pages

Near the end is a list of benefit unable to gay couples with one or both members in the Armed Forces because of DOMA, which is under challenge.

In some cases, paradoxically, servicemembers face a greater risk of actual courts-martial for clear violations of the UCMJ (such as “conduct unbecoming”, article 134), which under DADT might have been processed administratively. Conduct such as hazing or teasing or ambiguous play might result in prosecution now when it wouldn’t have before. (This point becomes a lynchpin for an incident in my novel, “Brothers”, upon which I am still working.)

Prosecutions under Article 125 (sodomy) are still possible. On page 17, SLDN discusses the case “U.S. v. Marcum” (2004), where, right now, there is a finding that Lawrence v. Texas does not apply to the military, at least in some cases, according to the CAAF (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces).

Lambda Legal’s page on the Marcum case is here.

A court copy of the opinion is here.

Picture: from a Navy-Marines memorial at Virginia Beach, VA at 25th St.

Aids Walk 25 in 2011 -- a postscript

2011-11-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

I completed my own AIDSWalk this evening, when it was mild and dry (compared to the horrible weather the morning of the walk, Oct. 29), by walking up from McPherson Square to the Elizabeth Taylor Whitman Walker Clinic at 14^th St and R in Washington, to pick up the T-shirt.

This is the first time I have even been in the facility. I had been in the old Arlington facility when volunteering in the early 1990s.

I do recall my time with the Oak Lawn Counseling Center in Dallas in the mid 1980s, when the epidemic hit Dallas hard, two years later than New York and California. The need for volunteers was of a very different nature at that time.

Across R Street from Whitman Walker there is a Central Union Mission.

Town DC has "Set the Clocks Back to Standard Time" party, once a year "opportunity"; preppy crowd stays downstairs

2011-11-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Last night, Town DC held its “one extra hour” party, All Saints Weekend – the first Saturday night in November, when bargoers get an extra hour. The attraction was supposed to be the GayDays 2011 tour with DJ Randy Bettis (link here).

The crowd, however, mostly stayed downstairs, in the light, this week. The packed scene was quite preppy, and looked like a cross of “Gossip Girl”, “Social Network II”, and “Judas Kiss”. Screenwriter Andrew Sorkin would have been impressed. There was one college guy, quite attractive with bowl haircut, bopping up and down in the crowd alone all evening. Curious.

The drag queens who perform always had their Myspace pages, which I presume are Facebook pages now. One of them always says “Are you having a good time?” Later, “she” will usually remove someone’s shirt. In our world of “The Polarities”, this is all psychologically masculine behavior.

For those who watch the PBS series "The Fabric of the Cosmos", this party could be called "The Illusion of Time".

Openly gay GOP candidate (Patrick Forrest) in Virginia slammed by covert right wing in mailing

2011-11-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

I haven’t followed the 2011 Virginia state and local elections that much (election day is Nov. 8), but I got a 29-cent post card from “Our Heritage USA” in Lynchburg, VA (that says something) about state sentate GOP candidate Patrick Forrest.

The post card complained “Patrick Forrest is openly homosexual” to start (pretty offensive on a postcard), and proceeded to complain about his having worked on President Obama’s transition team and voting in Democratic primaries, and saying he is “coming out of the liberal closet”. It all looks pretty crude. (So why do I reproduce the card? To play investigative journalist on the extreme Right? Note that I can't find the organization "Our Heritage USA" as a distinct org on Google.)

Forrest’s own site is here.

Gay Patriot has an informative posting on Mr. Green’s candidacy here.

Update: Nov. 26

Lou Chibbaro, Jr. reported Nov. 8 that Adam Ebbin, Democrat, had won a state Senate seat as Virginia's first openly gay state senator. But Patrick Forrest, a Republican did lose in his attempt to unseat Janet Howell in Reston (link).

Halloween on a Monday night -- not necessarily smaller

2011-11-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

Last night (“Hier soir”), Halloween, all Hallows Eve, the clubs had their mini-parties, since it was Monday night, a school night or work night for fibbie employees (not for goons).

The problem in Washington DC was that the Metro stops at midnight (it’s threatened to do that on weekends), and Georgetown shut down street parking. Even so, around P street, there was a respectable crowd at the Omega DC (link). As for the pictures -- what you see is fake (a prop) that looks real.

A few familiar faces, especially from Cobalt, and perhaps around the country (California) appeared. Men who wanted to were surviving Halloween.

The drag show, which cost $5, didn’t start until 11 PM (the normal time is 10:30 there on Monday). And the performers really went around the bar aggressively, looking for tips. That’s not my favorite mode for a show.

I’m told that the former ApexDC will reopen soon as a women’s bar. The building is still lit up. As a general purpose disco, It simply could not compete with the larger TownDC once it came on the scene.

On the way back, on the Orange Line (next to last train), I encountered a young man in a black and white striped suit; he claimed to be "The Pumpkin King," which he said was a horror movie when he was a kid (can't find it on imdb). He was with a very pregnant (for real) young woman, still in costune,

Gay retirement communities face hard times because of housing price crisis

2011-10-31T10:29:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, the New York Times reported (story by Dan Frosch)on “Hard Times for Gay Retirement Havens” in a number of areas like Boston, Florida, Arizona, and Austin TX. A community center in New Mexico, “Retirement Visions” link (still working) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (story by Bob Quick) .

The obvious cause is recession and the collapse of housing prices, making it impossible for gay seniors, like everyone else, to sell their old residences.

I have some good memories of Santa Fe, from a winter 1980 weekend visit.

I recall a session at the old “West Side Discussion Group” back in the spring of 1973, “Are gay resorts really gay?”

Wikipedia attribution link for Santa Fe photo.

CobaltDC holds Halloween costume party; I am equated to a character from "The Rocky Picture Horror Show"

2011-10-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Most of Washington DC’s “gay men” seemed to survive Halloween, at least the Saturday night weekend (Oct. 29) party at Cobalt DC, the evening after a surprise October snow grazed the area, but didn’t quite stick downtown or around Dupont Circle much.

There’s still two days to go, with smaller gatherings trick-or-treat night, Monday, a school night and work night. And Tuesday becomes All Saints Day.

The upstairs started like a typical last Saturday (“RawDC”) with male films from Colt Studios on videos – plenty of provocation but no suspense (and almost no “plot”).

One little clique impersonated characters from "The Three Musketeers" (a French nobleman; not sure who was d"Artagnan; and Milady was a no-show).

And another guy impersonated (uncannily resembled) Nationals' walk-off homerun star Ryan Zimmerman (even after last year's hernia surgery); he said Cardinal's hero (in the World Series) David Freese resembled Michael Morse more than Zimmerman.

The customer contest was held at 12:15 AM, with about 30 contestants divided into 6 groups. The MC, shouting into a microphone (and “her” movie was too loud and shrill) ordered “losers” (“f.-off”) off the (‘g.d.’) stage, because, like Donald Trump running The Apprentice, “everybody hates losers”. Finally, there were three finalists. The “girl in the portrait” won, even though the MC didn’t seem to agree with the crowd’s choice. (She didn't like living portraits, like those in the Harry Potter movies.)P Voting was based on who could yell the loudest. It was what the Washington Times calls “Mobocracy”. I voted for the fully grown Bengal tiger (he looked pretty convincing as a big cat). The Metro Weekly (“Dillon”) was there, with an interesting camera featuring halo light, like what TV’s had in the 50s.

JR’s, at 1:30 AM, on the way back, was relatively quiet.

On the Metro Orange Line, however, all the straight people were well dressed in costumes for the Clarendon (Arlington) bars. More people were in costume than weren’t.

I dressed for warmth: green sweater and jacket. I was asked if I was in costume as a contestant in “The Rocky Picture Horror Show” (I had seen the stage musical in Minneapolis at the Hey Theater in the spring of 2003). Remember, the losers there pay the penalty by being forced into drag, with all the attendant consequences to the body. That’s not the way to survive Halloween.

Last word: Halloween isn't over yet. Be careful!

AIDSWalk in Washington DC fights off Noreaster: rain, wind, thunder, threat of snow

2011-10-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today, Aidswalk 25 in Washington DC fought off a powerful Noreaster, which remained all rain (so far) in downtown Washington DC. Here is the site and the minimum standard donation requested is $25.

There was even a clap of thunder or two, celebrating the barometric low pressure (which usually makes my hip pain go away), as the soaking rain continued. The crowd around Freedom Plaza was, frankly, sparse. AIDSWalk chose a later weekend this year, although usually the weather in Washington is mild, even enough for shorts, until after Thanksgiving. The Marine Corps Marathon (the first one after DADT repeal) occurs tomorrow, with a late fall weekend chosen to avoid the risk of heat injury to runners.

The actual walk was to be 5 km (3 miles), but few walkers were returning even though it was around 9:55 AM when I arrived from the Federal Triangle Metro stop.

The water bottles and other minimal concessions were around; the band was not; music was being piped from the stand when I was there. Once ballpark clown pounced around.

A small encampment from Occupy DC still appeared at the west end of the Plaza, closest to the Treasury Dept. Building.

AIDSWalkDC for 2011 has its own YouTube video of those who braved the cold rain and thunder, with umbrellas:

When they said Rain or Snow, they meant it.

Huffington runs YouTube video of anti-gay bullying incident in Ohio

2011-10-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Huffington Post has reported on (including replublishing the cell phone video of) a beating of a gay teen in a Chillocothe, Ohio high school (Union-Scotio). Apparently the perpetrator got only three days suspension.

The link is here.

My own take on this is to wonder, why are penalties for bullying for any reason (gay-related or not) so light? You don’t need “political indoctrination” in the classroom to have a zero-tolerance policy on bullying. But the zero-tolerance should eventually lead to the ability to question out-of-touch beliefs.

I have to admit that I “got back” a few times by returning the “favor” in middle school. In ninth grade (junior high school then), in 1958, I belittled another boy for having a seizure. It’s hard for me to grasp why I would have done that. Compulsiveness? A belief (common in the 1950s) that any “disability” was a sign of sin? The maturity of the teen brain?

And, don’t forget, until recently, the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, as well as the previous “absolute ban” (with “asking”) on gays in the military, could have provided, in the minds of many kids (and parents and school administrators) a pretext for believing that gays as a whole did not deserve complete protection of the law.

Actor Zachary Quinto ("Margin Call") comes out at film premier; Kevin Spacey comments on bullying

2011-10-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

While reviewing “Margin Call” tonight (Movies blog) and looking up the trailers for the film on YouTube, I quickly came across a little clip about actor Zachary Quinto (age 34, born in Pennsylvania) coming out as gay at the New York premier of the film.

In the film, Quinto plays Peter Sullivan, the analyst who discovers that the Wall Street firm will fail. He comes across as the most (and maybe only) likeable character in the film.

Quinto, with thick eyebrows and narrow face, is said to look “Spock like” and the film tends to focus on “masculinity” in its visual rendition, to say the least.

Actor Kevin Spacey, also in the film, would not discuss his sexuality directly, but offered a comment in an interview written up by Gina Serpe in Dec. 16, 2010 ("Kevin Spacey on gay rumors: 'I am different than some people would like me to be") for Eon, link here.

Spacey said “But why is it in this country that kids might think it’s OK to bully and make fun of somebody? .. I’ll tell you what, because what do they see in the media happening all the time? In te media they seem to think that’s OK, so it we stop using sexuality as a weapon against people, maybe everyone will eventually get cool with it.”

Spacey said he would be happy to appear in an “It gets better” PSA.

William and Mary GALA holds Silver Anniversary dinner in Wren Building

2011-10-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night, Oct. 22, The William and Mary Gay and Lesbian Alumni(ae), Inc. held its Silver Anniversary Dinner (25^th, from its 1986 founding) in the Great Hall of the Christopher Wren Building, in Willliamsburg, VA.

Wayne Curtis, President, opened and then introduced Jeffrey Trammel, Rector of the College of William and Mary, and then Special Guest, Taylor Revely, 27^th President of the College. The president said that college students, to succeed, must learn to work in a world of very diverse views of all matters of culture, including both religion and sexuality. This is not the world it was a half-century ago, he said. Times have changed.

The dinner was certainly delicious. The first choice, which I took, was “sautéed lump crab cake with Edwards country ham, stone ground mustard sauce, and tobacco onions, creamy grits, and seasoned vegetables.” There was also a “pecan crusted chicken with roasted peach chutney”. I believe these were supposed to be colonial menus the way they could have been prepared in the 18^th century. The mustard ham and crab was hot-tasting. It’s preparation would be a good topic for a cooking show, or maybe for “Good Morning America”, or maybe for Nate Berkus.

The documentary film (Movies blog) was reshown. There was also a discussion of the Richard Cornish Endowment Fund (link) for the acquisition of gay and lesbian resources at the Earl Greg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary.

There was a reception at a GALA board member’s home in the “woods”, very hard to find on a night with a New Moon on narrow streets with no lights. The palatial home would indeed fit the Nate Berkus design show.

(See also Oct. 2 posting on WM "It Gets Better" video.)

Most GOP candidates have threatened to reinstate "don't ask don't tell"; a response to the "Booing" incident

2011-10-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

SLDN assembled and tweeted a bunch of recent comments from GOP candidates which generally “threaten” to reinstate “don’t ask don’t tell”, or worse. Here is a longer analysis of the “booing” incident from “Such Is Life Videos”. (The exception would be libertarian Ron Paul.)

Zach Ford has an article from “Think Progress” on Herman Cain’s recent discussion on the choice issue with Joy Behar, link here In the 1999 Fox film, a grandfatherly character played by Alan Alda said "It's a very natural choice." It has always seemed to me that the immutability argument is a way of punting the football, on third down.

Somehow, if I were a member of LCR, it would be very hard to work for GOP candidates credibly. And I don't "like" partisanship.

Update: Nov. 8

Here's a piece on Rick Perry's position on Political Ticker, link.

Quebec researcher sheds perceptive light on the origins of AIDS, and subsequent epidemiology; some bad luck?

2011-10-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has a detailed and important story in the “Science Times” Oct. 18, “Chimp to Human to History Books: The Path of AIDS”, news analysis by Donald G. McNeil, Jr, discussing a book by Canadian-Belgian clinician Dr. Jacques Pepin, “The Origins of AIDS,” from Cambridge University Press. The link is here. The author should not be confused with the well-known chef.

Pepin says that a few unlucky events may have led to the transmission of HIV-like viruses from chimps to humans, and that the virus could have been amplified in the Congo a half century ago by less than optimal sterilization procedures in the handling of injections, blood and surgery. A few, or even one, bureaucrat hired from Haiti after the Congo became independent could have brought it to Haiti, where it could have been “amplified” again in the early 70s at a Port-au-Prince plasma center. Pepin documents how HIV has many subgroups, and most of the infections in Haiti and then among gay men (or MSM’s) was of Type B, whereas the subtype spread by heterosexual contact in Africa may be other subtypes, which could have slightly different transmission capacities.

In other words, the epidemic that erupted in the male gay community in the 1980s might never have happened without the plasma center.

I was living in Dallas in the 1980s, and Dallas saw the epidemic spread about two years after NY and LA, with potentially enormous political implications, including a draconian attempt to reinforce the Texas sodomy law with a bill (Ceverha’s HR 2138) introduced in 1983; it did fail to get out of committee, but only because of effective lobbying by the Dallas Gay Alliance. The right wing made arguments about “chain letters” which I won’t detail here; an epidemic could still percolate among a relatively closed population. During the 1990s, the political panic of this sort subsided; and in 2003, of course, the ruling Lawrence v. Texas put it to bed.

The McNeil article suggests that many subtypes of HIV are indeed very difficult to transmit. But the experience in Africa should allay any complacency. Anecdotally, the experience if the past ten or fifteen years has been even in the US that birdrectional heterosexual transmission is relatively much more common than it had been.

The moralizers can still have their debates whenever they want to. I still have the original "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts.

Cambridge University Press has a blog ("This Side of the Pond") entry about Pepin’s work here.

The picture is from a trip to the Texas border areas (south of San Antonio) in 1985

Frank Kameny, long time gay activist, passes away at 86 in Washington DC

2011-10-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well known gay activist Dr. Franklin E. Kameny passed away Tuesday in his sleep, according to the Washington Blade, link here.

Dr. Kameny was fired from the government as an astronomer back in 1957 after he was confronted by a government witch-hunt scoring civilian civil service for “homosexuals”. He was never sure what tipped the government off.

The federal government would amend civil service rules in 1973 to remove sexual orientation as a reason for dismissal or direct discrimination. I actually worked for the National Bureau of Standards from 1963-1964 (my first job) and remember reading the reasons you could be “removed”.

Kameny often weighed in on Scott Peck’s radio program in 1993 to talk about issues with LGBT people getting security clearances, a situation which got better in the 90s after the Persian Gulf War, before the political battle over the military gay ban when Bill Clinton took office in 1993.

I talked to Frank Kameny by phone in 1973 after "coming out" a second time, from a motel room. I remember he said that Georgetown was not Washington DC's answer to Greenwich Village. He liked the bars in Washington's Navy Yard section then, like Lost and Found.

I talked to him again around 2001, when he told me he never lost faith in the ability of the gay community to persevere through any crisis, like the political fallout from AIDS in the 1980s.

Major dispute over students petitions, seeking redress to bullying erupts at a Tennessee high school; CA passes, Gov. Brown signs Seth's Law

2011-10-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

There apparently occurred an incident at a Tennessee high school were a principal allegedly hit a student after banning petitions and trying to stop a Gay-Straight alliance to deal with bullying. The “Change.org” story is here (with online petition).

The ACLU has a detailed story about the incident at Sequoyah High School and Principal Moser at Madisonville, TN, link here.

Madisonville is in SE Tennessee, near the Smoky Mountains, in an area known for Bible-belt mentality in the past (the Scopes trial was not so far away). Wikipedia attribution link for picture. I visited the area in June 2004.

Anderson Cooper will continue reporting on bullying all week at 8 PM EDT on CNN.

In another development, California Governor Jerry Brown (D) has signed Seth's law AB 9 and another related provision, AB 1156 to strengthen anti-bullying provisions in California. Here is the link on Seth's Law from Equality California.

Update: Oct. 31

CNN has a valuable video on the "neutrality policy" in the Anoka County MN school district, link.

Atlanta case in 2009 reminds one that police raids can occur; note on circuits

2011-10-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

Don’t think that gay bar raids can’t happen in the US. A newspaper called “Pixiq” describes a raid by Atlanta police on the Atlanta Eagle without a search warrant in Sept. 2009. The news story that I found is indeed a bit dated, Dec. 2010. The story is here.

There was a legal settlement later imposed on the police, which included provisions of the right of citizens to photograph police, (website url) here. In the raid, police had confiscated cell phones and cameras without cause, which was arguable unconstitutional.

Back around 1980, when I was living in Dallas, there was a period of raids on Dallas bars by one particular police officer, making bogus changes of “lewd conduct”. One person was convicted twice and forced to leave Dallas to avoid jail. But finally, a computer operator (from ARCO) fought it and won in court in 1981.

As an aside, last night’s (new?) “Just Circuit” party at Cobalt in DC (link) was relatively unscripted, no special decorations. Music was continuous, without stops. It was a lot “tamer” than the CP world depicted in a couple of movies from TLA (“Circuit” from 2001 is actually a very intriguing film about the Palm Springs scene, definitely worth a rental now.)

Pictures: (1) Atlanta pride, 2004; (2) No, I'm not praying.

ABC reports further on bullying, including a special middle school in Milwaukee

2011-10-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

ABC News has a 7 minute video on the case of Jamey Rodermeyer, accompanying the material of the case in California on Larry King and Brandon McInerney, reviewed on the TV blog today.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper will hold a town hall on anti-gay bullying Sunday night Oct. 9. The forum will be hosted at Rutgers in New Brunswick, NJ, site of the Tyler Clementi tragedy.

Lady Gaga is also discussed in this report as weighing in on the issue.

ABC News also has a story on the Alliance School in Milwaukee, WI by Jim Dubrueil and Denise Matrinez-Ramundo, the first public middle school specifically set up for gay and transgendered students. I don’t recall whether Tammy Baldwin (running for Senate in WI) mentioned the school in her speech at the HRC Dinner last weekend.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Huffington Post story on Jamey is here.

YouTube has a trailer for a new documentary "Bullied". As soon as I'm able to find the complete film, I'll review it on the Movies blog. Does someone know where to order a DVD?

Ninth Circuit vacates Log Cabin victory in court over DADT, saying repeal makes case moot; LCR claims gays will vote GOP

2011-10-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

The Ninth Circuit has vacated the earlier decision striking down “don’t ask don’t tell” (in the suit filed by Log Cabin Republicans) because the repeal of USC 654, taking effect Sept. 20, makes the case moot and achieves through the political process what had been sought through the courts. The Circuit says that the district court ruling cannot have any precedential effect now. The Metro Weekly story is here.

Metro Weekly provided a link to its own copy of the opinion.

The practical concern would be the possibility that a future president could unilaterally restore the ban, as Aubrey Sarvis has suggested.

Log Cabin says that over 30% of gay voters are voting Republican, and offers this piece.

William and Mary GALA presents "It Gets Better" video, announces Silver Anniversary homecoming schedule

2011-10-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

The group William and Mary GALA (William and Mary Gay and Lesbian Alumni, Inc.) has an announcement of its homecoming weekend schedule for this month on its home page here. This will be the organizations’ “Silver Anniversary” celebration (25^th anniversary).

William and Mary has its “It Gets Better” project video (14 minutes) on YouTube.

In my first “Do Ask Do Tell” book, and on my “BillBoushka” blog (see profile), Nov. 28, 2006 entry, I’ve documented my “expulsion” from William and Mary my freshman semester on Nov. 28, 1961. That happened, of course, in a different era.

Anderson Cooper and CNN AC360 will present the "Bullying: It Stops Here" on Sunday, Oct. 9.

HRC Annual Dinner in Washington hosts President Obama, Michael Bloomberg, Tammy Baldwin, Cyndi Lauper

2011-10-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

President Obama spoke at the Human Rights Campaign Annual Dinner tonight. This was the 15th Annual Dinner. I had attended one other HRC Dinner here in DC, and one in Minneapolis right after 9/11, when I met the governor Jesse Ventura personally.

Personally, I had encountered a couple delays on the Metro and got there too late to go through security. So us latecomers watched it in the lobby, then were let in. I guess I was lucky, because the “About” column at the HRC website warns guests that they will not be allowed into the event space if they don’t arrive to register by 6:30 PM (early for such events). I should have read this Saturday. It's tough in a city with deteriorating Metro service with so many outages and delays (wasn't a problem ten years ago). Thankfully, that policy wasn’t enforced. Over 3000 people attended and the event did sell out (at $250 a ticket and up).

The audio of the president's speech in the lobby (for latecomers) was muffled, but here is an important quote from the Huffington Post (story by Amanda Terkel, link).

"We don't believe in the kind of smallness that says it's okay for a stage full of political leaders -- one of whom could end up being the president of the United States -- being silent when an American soldier is booed. We don't believe in that.”

Obama talked about ending DOMA (as well as the success in ending "don't ask don't tell") but he didn’t completely endorse gay marriage. His reluctance to do so created controversy in the media and CNN was already discussing this when I got home after 11 PM. He did talk about the need for everyone to do his fair share to restore the economy, and obvious jab at the GOP.

Before the main course, Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke, passionately, about equal rights and that government should not interfere with the relationships that people have or even how they are licensed (almost in the spirit of GLIL’s famous “License Expired” essay in 1996). He said that New York was an economic engine because it had always been the place you could be what you wanted to be. (That may not have been true in the 60s at the time of the World’s Fair, and all the raids and payoffs at the Mafia-controlled bars then.)

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) spoke. Here is her record on the issues (link). But Baldwin has actually sometimes been known for tough talk on areas of personal responsibility and protecting children.

A clip of Suze Orman was shown.

A good part of the program was an auction for four huge overseas trips, to South Africa, Russia, a cruise, and Thailand.

Cyndi Lauper then provided entertainment, after re-introducing Joe Solomonese, with “Time after Time”.

At the After Party, I met a young-looking man from Oregon who said he does home automation and claimed to be from another planet, 30 light years away. It sounded like a conversation from a David Lynch movie (maybe "Lost Highway"). But I can't prove him wrong. He said he was 45 but that angels don't age.

As I left, HRC volunteers gave out backpacks of corporate sponsor stuff, which meant I couldn't readily go anywhere else without being near my car (in Arlington) to unload it.

But, this is a time for celebration. And for caution as we look to the dangerous 2012 election season, with a trying economy for so many people.

Corporate sponsors:

Cobalt DC tries an "old new" idea for Saturday night EOM party; more on re-enlistment after DADT repeal

2011-09-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Last night, Sept. 24, CobaltDC on 17^th St. in Washington DC sponsored its first “RawDC” party, which replaces “Shift” the last Saturday of the month. You can look at the sponsor’s website and come to your own conclusion about “gays gone bad”. Yes, there was porn on a couple walls, which I did not videotape (copyright). The Gay 90’s in Minneapolis has (at least when I last visited) a room with similar videos.

The disco music was continuous, in that it did not stop, recount itself and restart causing people to pause when they dance. (No, disco is not like a Beethoven sonata.) It sounded like an early 90s or 80s genre.

It really strikes me that the clubs have gotten over their phobia about banning smoking starting in 2007. Most patrons seem to like the no-smoking atmosphere. The air is cloudy with water vapor (foggers), masking some of the "activity", but not smoke.

I left about 1:30 and found the streets empty. A cat dashed across 17^th in front of JR’s. Finally, I got a cab that turned out to be a hybrid vehicle with an energy monitor inside.

The vehicle (a Prius?) had an energy monitor that diagramed the power generation of the vehicle, looking roughly like this (Wikipedia attribution)

On DADT Repeal Followup:

The media has been running stories about formerly discharged soldiers (under DADT) not being able to reenlist because there are no slots for them now in the jobs they did. In the civilian world, I encountered something similar. Because in my era, security clearances for gays were a problem, I lost out completely on that whole possible career area. Current economic circumstances can make it impossible to remedy past discrimination. That’s the real world.

Science shows same-sex relations among many animals

2011-09-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

To answer right-wing claims that homosexuality is “unnatural” and willful (and assertions that this the main reason to oppose it), one can look at a New York Times story today, front page, by James Gorman, “Amorous Squid Seeks Partner: Any Sex will Do”, link here.

This particular species of squid can’t “see” its partner well enough and simply offers its sperm like it was spam, to anything. Many species of squid die immediately after reproduction, however.

The article discusses Bonobo chimps, and dolphins, as well as albatrosses, and even some insects that practice “traumatic insemination”. Albatrosses raise their young in female-paired couples. Male sea horses carry their young.

Perhaps one could call some of these examples "homosocial".

So the bigger natural law is that nature is diverse.

SLDN's event celebrating the end of DADT: overwhelming turnout in Washington DC

2011-09-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight, SLDN held its Washington DC celebration of the official end of “don’t ask don’t tell” at the K Street Lounge at 13^th and K Streets NW.

I got there at about 7 PM, for an event that started at 6, and found the line out into the street. It took about an hour to get in, as apparently well over 600 people attended an event in a facility that could only hold a much lower head count.

NBC News was there outside on K Street.

I missed the speeches. What was left was a business-dressed but festive crowd. Back in my days in Dallas in the 80s, a physician friend of mine had liked to use the word “effete”, which probably overstates it.

I talked to one person about the concerns over the 2012 elections and the possibility that a conservative GOP president could unilaterally reimpose the ban (as Aubrey Sarvis has written). He said, "you can never take away rights."

Afterwards, I went into the “Five Guys” fast food joint at McPherson Square Metro and ran into people from the event. The restaurant had an interesting request, not to remove any peanuts or shells from the restaurant to protect children in the neighborhood that might have a peanut allergy.

Outside, at the Metro Station, I’ve never seen so many homeless people sleeping around the entrance to the station.

On the Metro Orange Line back home in Arlington, an Air Force officer in uniform happened to sit next to me. I finally mentioned the significance of the day, and he said the Pentagon had been preparing for it for months. At work, in the Pentagon today, it was a non-event.

I’ll keep people posted on the availability or theatrical showings of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”.

There were flyers announcing Josh Seefried’s new book “Our Time: Breaking the Silence of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’”, to be available Oct. 13. There is an announcement on the site for LGBT military network Outserve here. Apparently Josh had previously written under a pseudonym. (When I see the title "Our Time", I immediately think of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town".)

There was also a poster announcing a (different) anthology book “The End of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”.

Note: WJLA Channel 7 reports a big party at Freddie's in Arlington, near the Pentagon. I'm not omnipresent.