Tag Archives | Gay Culture

Bret Easton Ellis on the ‘Reign of the Gay Magical Elves’

By on May 15, 2013 in News 0

EllisBret Easton Ellis, author of modern classics Less Than Zero and American Psycho, writes about the lionizing of celebrities who announce they are gay for OUT:

Was I the only gay man of a certain demo who experienced a flicker of annoyance in the way the media treated Jason Collins as some kind of baby panda who needed to be honored and praised and consoled and—yes—infantilized by his coming out on the cover of Sports Illustrated? Within the tyrannical homophobia of the sports world, that any man would come out as gay (let alone a black man) is not only an LGBT triumph but also a triumph for pranksters everywhere who thrilled to the idea that what should be considered just another neutral fact that is nobody’s business was instead a shock heard around the world, one that added another jolt of transparency to an increasingly transparent planet. It was an undeniable moment and also extremely cool.

… Read the rest

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Gay Republicans Go For Romney

By on October 25, 2012 in News 14

The Log Cabin Republicans are as divided as ever over the GOP presidential candidate, but Mitt is their man reports The Advocate:

Log Cabin Republicans, the largest national group representing gay Republicans, announced its endorsement of Mitt Romney for president Tuesday, saying the decision shows, “We are Americans first.”

In a separate explanatory statement, however, the group also said its endorsement of the former Massachusetts governor was “qualified” and that it planned to be “most active” in working for its endorsed House and Senate candidates. And it dismissed Romney’s signed pledge to ban same-sex marriage via an amendment to the U.S. Constitution as an “empty promise.”

The group’s national board of directors said the decision to endorse came “after careful consideration and consultation with our members and chapters, as well as communication with Mitt Romney and his campaign team.” Questions about whether the Log Cabin Republicans would endorse the Romney-Ryan ticket have surrounded the group for months…

[continues at The Advocate]… Read the rest

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An Oral History Of Gay Punk

By on August 24, 2012 in News 7

It’s exciting when something happens in the news that reminds you how subversive punk rock can be. Via OUT, a conversation featuring remembrances from Bruce LaBruce, Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould, and numerous notable others about a movement which changed the world, whether people know it or not:

The Queercore scene grew out of a generation that bristled against what it saw as the bourgeois trappings of a mainstream gay lifestyle and the macho, hetero hardcore scene that punk — a movement founded by women, people of color, and gays — had become. It started out as a loose collective, trading fanzines and letters, and evolved to include dozens of bands.

There was a gay element to early punk, such as the Los Angeles group The Germs — whose singer was the closeted Darby Crash—as well as Seattle transplants The Screamers, The Apostles in the U.K., and, in Texas, The Dicks.

… Read the rest

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Gay Republicans Are Like Jewish Nazis And Black Klan Members

By on June 25, 2012 in News 49

Michael Musto of the Village Voice is outraged that anyone in the gay community would even consider voting for Mitt Romney:

Ever since the conservative gay group GOProud backed Mitt Romney for President last week–albeit by a very slim margin–the epithets and insults have been hurling at them like taunts at a gay kid.

But this time, the outrage is justified.

I always thought that any gay who backs a candidate that doesn’t support equal rights must have some very scary death wish…

He goes on to say that these Gay Republicans (once profiled in the disinformation documentary of that name) are like Jewish Nazis, Black Klan members, women who campaign for Rush Limbaugh, etc…… Read the rest

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Barack Obama Is Our First Gay, Female, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish President (According to the Media)

By on May 16, 2012 in News 9

First Gay PresidentBill Clinton only got to be America’s first “black” president. Interesting take from Eric Randall in the Atlantic Wire:

Newsweek’s cover this week declares that Barack Obama is the “First Gay President,” playing on the reader’s knowledge that Obama isn’t himself gay, but his support for same-sex marriage earns him an honorary rainbow halo. The headline obviously calls back to 1998, when Toni Morrison declared Bill Clinton the first black president in The New Yorker, which at the time was edited by current Newsweek editor Tina Brown. “Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas,” Morrison wrote, laying out the formula for how to declare a President has attained the identity of someone else through actions and behaviors. Newsweek‘s cover has been called “controversial” and “pretty shocking,” but it’s merely the most recent in presidential firsts that weren’t for the country’s actual first black president.

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First Openly Gay Presidential Candidate, A Republican, Fred Karger Announces 2012 Run

By on April 6, 2011 in News 22

Lauren Seifert reports on CBS News:

Barely hours after filing his intent with the FEC to run for the 2012 Republican nomination for president, Fred Karger stopped by “Washington Unplugged” to formally announce his decision.

Speaking with CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes Karger said, “I’ve filed to run for President of the United States.” (watch above)

Explaining what brought him to this moment Karger said, “It was the culmination of a lifetime of political work. It was a very exciting moment.”

This is the first time Karger has run for political office, but he has been a behind-the-scenes player for 35 years — serving as an advisor to Presidents Ford, Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

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Quakers Welcome Government Move On Civil Partnerships

By on February 17, 2011 in News 8

Matrimoni_gay_SpagnaVia Ekklesia:

Quakers in Britain have welcomed the government’s announcement, today, (17 February), that the celebration of civil partnerships will be allowed on some religious premises, if a faith group wishes. This was introduced as part of the Equality Act 2010, section 202.

Michael Hutchinson, Acting Recording Clerk for Quakers in Britain said: “We are delighted that the government has heard us and others. We ourselves see no distinction between heterosexual or homosexual in terms of commitment and wish to move further to allow legal marriage for same sex couples, but this is a welcome step along the way to full equality.

“We are also heartened by proposals to address calls for full equality of civil marriages and civil partnerships, as our religious experience leads us to seek a change in the law so that same sex marriages can be celebrated, witnessed and reported to the state in the same way as heterosexual marriages.”

[Continues at Ekklesia]… Read the rest

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UK To Bring ‘Gay Lessons’ To Classrooms To Promote LGBT History Month

By on February 12, 2011 in News 14
Photo: Blackcatuk (CC)

Photo: Blackcatuk (CC)

The Telegraph reports:

Children are to be taught about homosexuality in maths, geography and science lessons as part of a Government-backed drive to “celebrate the gay community”.

Lesson plans have been drawn up for pupils as young as four, in a scheme funded with a £35,000 grant from an education quango, the Training and Development Agency for Schools.

The initiative will be officially launched next month at the start of “LGBT History Month” – an initiative to encourage teaching about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual issues.

The lesson plans, spread across the curriculum, will be offered to all schools, which can choose whether or not to make use of them.

But critics last night called the initiative a poor use of public money which could distract from the teaching of “core” subjects.

Among the suggestions are:

  • Maths – teaching statistics through census findings about the number of homosexuals in the population, and using gay characters in scenarios for maths problems;
  • Design and technology – encouraging pupils to make symbols linked to the gay rights movement;
  • Science – studying animal species where the male takes a leading role in raising young, such as emperor penguins and sea horses, and staging class discussions on different family structures, including same-sex parents;
  • Geography – examining the transformation of San Francisco’s Castro district in the 1960s from a working-class Irish area to the world’s first “gay neighbourhood”, and considering why homosexuals move from the countryside to cities;
  • Languages – using gay characters in role play scenarios, and teaching “LGBT vocabulary”.

… Read the rest

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Mona Lisa Is Painting Of Da Vinci’s Gay Lover, Italian Researcher Claims

By on February 3, 2011 in News 11

156-1258703207Is the most beautiful and iconic woman in the history of art actually a man? When one compares the Mona Lisa to other works in question (see right), the facial similarities are striking. The Washington Post reports on the controversial theory:

A male apprentice, longtime companion and possible lover of Leonardo da Vinci was the main influence and a model for the “Mona Lisa” painting, an Italian researcher said.

But the researcher, Silvano Vinceti, said Wednesday the portrait also represents a synthesis of Leonardo’s scientific, artistic and philosophical beliefs. Because the artist worked on it at various intervals for many years, he was subjected to different influences and sources of inspiration, and the canvas is full of hidden symbolic meanings. “The ‘Mona Lisa’ must be read at various levels, not just as a portrait,” Vinceti said.

The apprentice Gian Giacomo Caprotti, known as Salai, worked with Leonardo for more than two decades starting in 1490.

… Read the rest

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Facebook’s ‘Gaydar’ Outs Gays

By on October 21, 2010 in News 14

FacebookWhen it was recently revealed that a Ugandan newspaper was outing gays in its pages many people were shocked, but perhaps put it down to that country having societal values different from our own. Now it appears that America’s social media giant Facebook may be doing much the same thing, in its own high-tech way. From Gawker’s Valleywag:

Facebook allows users to list which gender of partner they’re “interested in.” But do you want Facebook’s advertisers to know if you’re gay? A Microsoft researcher has found a loophole which could secretly reveal a gay user’s sexuality to advertisers.

It’s no secret that Facebook, like many other online services, targets ads to different groups of users based on demographic data. But using a sensitive category like sexuality to target advertising—which Facebook apparently does—can lead to troubling privacy issues.

For a recent paper, researchers from Microsoft and Germany’s Max Planck Institute wanted to see if Facebook targeted ads based on sexuality, so they created six fake profiles: two straight men, two straight women, a gay man and a lesbian.

… Read the rest

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