Taking aim at the hypocrisy of closeted politicians

Does a politician’s right to privacy trump the wrong of hypocrisy? Documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick thinks not.
He doesn’t care about the sex lives of politicians. But he cares that when a pol’s sexual orientation is secret, often shame and self-hatred color his voting record. Dick is outraged when closeted gay politicians vote against gay marriage, against the right of gays to adopt, and against funding for HIV/AIDS. He’s so outraged that he has made a movie exposing the disconnect between what these men practice and what they preach.
Despite its title, Outrage is calm, riveting, and provocative, taking pride in officials who come out and and taking aim at those who remain closeted. The film saves most of its ammunition for the media’s “orchestrated conspiracy,” creating a double bind that perpetuates the double lives of these men. Yes, they are all men, and with the exception of Ed Koch, former New York mayor, all are Republicans. (Why should we care? One, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who recently married a woman, is a leading GOP candidate for president in 2012.)
Dick, whose prior documentaries include This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a trenchant and amusing take on the double standard of the motion-picture ratings board, is ambivalent about his role in “outing” closeted politicians.
Beltway blogger Michael Rogers, on hand to furnish color commentary on who’s in the closet and why, considers the question of whether outing is a form of sexual McCarthyism. Is it the closeted practice or the outing that perpetuates the climate of shame? Certainly, whenever a James McGreevey or Eliot Spitzer admits his hidden sexual practices, he must take the media walk of shame.
Rogers’ answer to the chicken-or-egg question is that the goal of outing is to expose political hypocrisy, not sexual orientation. To this end, Dick provides each closeted politician’s voting record on gay rights; most of them show that he is voting against his own self-interest. See Taking aim at the hypocrisy of closeted politicians Philadelphia Inquirer * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Pa. student appeals suspension for porn role Philadelphia Inquirer

A student who appeared in pornographic videos using a pseudonym is appealing his suspension from a Christian college in western Pennsylvania saying the off-campus job wasn’t the business of school officials.
John Gechter, 22, of Philadelphia said he needed the income from his roles in gay porn to pay for school but was suspended for one year from Grove City College, pending his appeal, after a student saw him in a video posted online.
“I absolutely believe this college violated my rights,” Gechter told The Allied News of Grove City. “They (suspended) me based on my occupation. I was not doing anything illegal.”
College spokeswoman Amy Clingensmith said Gechter was suspended because he “exhibited behavior contrary to the values” of the college.
“He also indicated he chose to participate in this behavior knowing it was incongruent with the policies, mission and values of Grove City College,” Clingensmith said.
Gechter told the newspaper he has been in about 15 gay porn scenes in the last two years using the screen name “Vincent DeSalvo.” In doing the work, he said, he flew to Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and other places on the weekends.
Gechter, a senior majoring in molecular biology, said he started doing gay porn after he was referred to the industry through a modeling agency late in his sophomore year. See Pa. student appeals suspension for porn role Philadelphia Inquirer * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Philadelphia and Southwest Launch Gay-Friendly Philly Contests

he Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) has launched a contest as part of the Philadelphia – Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay(R) tourism marketing campaign. Entrants can sign up to win “Philly’s Ultimate Gay Stay,” including a trip to the city and dining, shopping and pampering at some of the city’s gay-friendly businesses, at gophila.com/gayphilly.

Online banner ads promoting the contest will run nationwide on logoonline.com and outtraveler.com, while a print ad will run in Passport Magazine. In addition, targeted outreach at out-of-market events and businesses in cities such as Chicago, Denver, Palm Springs and Columbus maximizes the value of this promotion, which runs through mid-May.

“Philly’s Ultimate Gay Stay” includes:

Two round-trip tickets to and from Philadelphia on Southwest Airlines
A two-night stay at a Center City hotel
Two VIP tickets to The Franklin Institute Science Museum’s Galileo, the Medici and the Age of Astronomy, making its exclusive world appearance in Philadelphia
Two shopping sprees — one at Matthew Izzo, a home, design and clothing boutique in Old City, and one at Open House, a home store in Midtown Village
Two all-inclusive dinners — one at the Mexican bring-your-own-tequila spot Lolita and one at Indian BYOB Bindi
Two salon services at Charlie Salon
Two signature Philadelphia souvenirs

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes Philadelphia and The Countryside(R) a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region’s vitality.

For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit gophila.com or uwishunu.com, where you can build itineraries; search event calendars; see photos and videos; view interactive maps; sign up for newsletters; listen to HearPhilly, an online radio station about what to see and do in the region; book hotel reservations and more. Or, call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Historic Philadelphia, at (800) 537-7676.

Website: http://www.gophila.com

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Obama’s 100-day gay report card

This Wednesday marks the 100th day since President Obama took the oath of office and, for the national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, never-before-experienced access to and inclusion in the federal government — although the LGBT community is still awaiting the appointment of an openly gay individual to the president’s cabinet.

Since taking office, Obama has appointed at least 35 openly LGBT individuals to federal posts. Nine of these employees were nominated for positions that required Senate confirmation, making Obama the first president ever to choose LGBT individuals for such positions within the first 100 days of the presidency.

Among the top LGBT appointments are John Berry as director of the Office of Personnel Management; Fred Hochberg as chair of the Export-Import Bank; Kathy Martinez as assistant secretary for the Office of Disability Employment Policy; Marisa Demeo as associate judge in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia; Nancy Sutley as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; and Mercedes Marquez as the assistant secretary for community planning and development and Raphael Bostic as assistant secretary for policy development and research, both at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. See Obama’s 100-day gay report card

Philadelphia Gay News * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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National Equality Rally at Independence Hall March for Equality on Independence Mall Sunday, May 3, 2009

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a First Amendment permit for a National Equality Rally at Independence Hall on Sunday afternoon, May 3, 2009 at Independence National Historical Park.

The goals of the National Equality Rally are:

– Passage of trans-inclusive hate crimes legislation and the Employment

Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

– Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act

(DOMA)

– Support for GLBT health issues

– Equal benefits for same-sex families

– Same-sex marriage Equality

Regional, state and national organizations, people of color, progressive religious institutions, high school and college GSAs, and straight ally organizations will be represented as Co-Organizers. Over 100 organizations from across the nation will March for Equality on Independence Mall.

Leaders will carry their organization’s name on pole-mounted placards. Activists, participants and straight allies will be offered American and rainbow flags. After completion of the March for Equality, activists, organizations, and allies will fill in Independence Mall for a one-hour high-impact Rally.

Gay Pioneers Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz will lead grassroots activists, organizations, and straight allies in the March for Equality on Independence Mall from the National Constitution Center to Independence Hall.

The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware will open the Rally with a choral tribute, and 100 members of the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Anna Crusis Women’s Choir and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia will sing a special rendition of “America the Beautiful” to end the Rally.

The Philadelphia Freedom Band and members of the national Lesbian and Gay Band Association will join the March for Equality on Independence Mall. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association marched in President Obama’s Inaugural Parade. There will be participants from the New York Big Apple Corps, D.C.’s Different Drummers, North Carolina Pride Band, and Flamingo Freedom Band of South Florida, among others, marching past the Liberty Bell Center and the Gay Pioneers Historic Marker to Independence Hall.

Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the Gay Pioneers held the first organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstrations called “Annual Reminders” each Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. The Annual Reminders laid the groundwork for the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and the first New York Pride Parade in 1970.

“Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the movement was launched. With a new Congress and a President who describes himself as a ‘fierce advocate’ of our civil rights, it is the right moment for us to join hands at an iconic location to demand Equality,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director of Equality Forum.

Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. The National Equality Rally at Independence Hall will be held on the concluding day of Equality Forum 2009 (April 27 to May 3), the largest and premiere annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.

For more information about the National Equality Rally at Independence Hall, visit www.nationalequalityrally.org. For more information on gay-friendly Philadelphia or to book a hotel stay, visit the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s website at www.gophila.com/gay.

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Another seismic shift emanates from California — this time on gay …

The ground trembled again last week, another aftershock of one of the wrenching seismic shifts that always seem to start in California and skitter across the nation’s political and cultural plates. This time it was same-sex marriage, as the state Supreme Court took up the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that outlawed such unions.

The court hearing was the latest chapter in a saga that has enmeshed California, off and on, for nine years. In 2000, voters banned same-sex marriage. Last year, acting after San Francisco became the first city in the state to marry gay couples, the Supreme Court cleared the way for such unions. Opponents returned fire with Proposition 8, which put the ban into the Constitution. Statements of some justices during Thursday’s court hearing indicated that the proposition probably will stand — at least for now.

There was an odd familiarity to it all. As with the modern conservative movement, the antitax rebellion of the 1970s and a host of other less important, if useful, things — the hula hoop comes to mind — California was first in the mix.

Despite our conceit that the sun shines brighter on California’s golden denizens, residents here are really not so different from people everywhere else. Ponder surveys of voters taken last November in California and nationally, and the surprising conclusion is how similar we are. We are less white and more Latino, slightly richer and more educated, and we go to church a bit less. But we resemble the rest of the nation on many other measures — our age range, the number of kids living in our homes, and even our views on whether government, rather than businesses and individuals, should solve problems in a pinch.

The state does differ from the other 49, though, in its quest for change.

“California is the magnet for people from all the states who come here to dream, hope, or fit in,” said Bob Mulholland, who since landing here via Philadelphia and Vietnam 39 years ago has been a Democratic party advisor and unofficial electoral historian.

See Another seismic shift emanates from California — this time on gay …

Los Angeles Times

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KY’s Fairness Campaign Hires First Director

(Louisville, KY) Following a period of strategic planning and organizational renewal, along with the establishment of an endowment, the Fairness Campaign has hired its first Director, Chris Hartman, (left) who will oversee fundraising, communications, leadership development, and legislative strategy for the almost two-decade old civil-rights organization.
A Louisville native and graduate of Bellarmine University and St. Xavier High School, Hartman most recently worked as Congressman John Yarmuth’s 2008 campaign Press Secretary. He served in 2005 as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer In Service To America) in St. Louis, Director of Philadelphia’s Grassroots Fundraising for the Democratic National Committee in 2004′s Presidential Election, and as Producer and Founder of performance companies Project Improv * St. Louis and Louisville. Hartman holds a Master’s degree in Drama from Washington University in St. Louis, where his thesis, Stage Families of Choice: Emergence, Evolution, and Future of the American Gay Male Family on Stage, focused on American gay male family history and analysis.

The role of Director is the second to be filled by Fairness in under a year. Last July, the organization hired Administrative Coordinator Erica Dolinky, who manages the office, constituent communications and works to foster volunteer engagement and membership recruitment. Dolinky recently mentored at-risk college students in southern Colorado and worked for over a decade with Boys and Girls Clubs of Scottsdale, Arizona. She holds a degree in Fine Arts and a minor in Women and Gender Studies from Arizona State University.

The Fairness Campaign celebrates this year the 10th anniversary of the landmark passage of Louisville’s first Fairness Amendment by the Board of Aldermen on January 26, 1999. Currently, Fairness is teaming with Kentucky Fairness Alliance and other ally organizations to promote the passage of a statewide Fairness law, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. A statewide Fairness lobby day in Frankfort is planned for February 25; more information will follow.* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Philly Jumps Three Spots To The 13th Most Visited Gay-Friendly Destination in the U.S.

Study Shows Dramatic Increase in Total Visitation By Gays And Lesbians, Who Now Say Philly Is Top-of-Mind As A Gay-Friendly Destination
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Philadelphia is the 13th most visited U.S. destination for gay and lesbian travelers, according to the 13th annual LGBT Tourism Study of 4,500 gay and lesbian travelers conducted by San Francisco-based Community Marketing, Inc. This year’s report shows a remarkable increase in total visitation by gay and lesbian travelers to the Greater Philadelphia region and marks a three-year rise in the destination’s visitation ranking. Philadelphia first broke into the prized “Top 20 U.S. Destinations” list in 2006 when it ranked #16; it maintained that position in 2007. Gay and lesbian travelers spend $70 billion a year on travel in the United States.

When survey respondents were asked about which city, resort town or country has done the best job of marketing to gay and lesbian travelers, Philadelphia ranked #3 as a top-of-mind destination, behind only Las Vegas and San Francisco. This finding indicates potential for future growth in visitation and is a significant boost for Philadelphia’s gay-friendly reputation.

“Just a few years ago, Philadelphia wasn’t even on the gay map, but today the city is among the most-recognized lesbian and gay tourism brands out there,” said Thomas Roth, president of Community Marketing, Inc. “To see this kind of consumer recognition is a tribute to taking a well-considered and steady approach to LGBT travel marketing, and it is a huge achievement.”

“Philadelphia, our partners and especially the members of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus are immensely proud to know that gay and lesbian travelers are increasingly discovering Philadelphia and The Countryside(R),” said Meryl Levitz, president and CEO, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC). “We believe that our region’s rich history, incredible dining, exclusive events, vibrant nightlife and great hotels–all of which are affordable–offer gay and lesbian travelers an unrivaled experience.”

In November 2003, GPTMC launched the award-winning Philadelphia – Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay(R) campaign. Before this campaign, the city’s total visitation by gay and lesbian travelers placed it outside the top 20 list among destinations, which includes cities such as Las Vegas, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, San Francisco and Provincetown.

The groundbreaking, $2 million tourism campaign has won top awards from the U.S. Travel Association (formerly the Travel Industry Association), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and PRWeek for its approach and effectiveness.

To see the complete list of the “Top 20 U.S. Destinations,” visit Community Marketing, Inc.’s Web site at communitymarketinginc.com.

For more information about traveling to Philadelphia, visit gophila.com/gay. To book airline reservations, visit southwest.com/gaytravel.

Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI) the San Francisco-based LGBT market research and communications firm has released its 13th annual LGBT Tourism Study. CMI has been studying and reporting on LGBT tourism demographics and trends since 1994. This year, the study’s industry, media and educational partners include IGLTA, USTOA, ASTA, DMAI, CLIA, NTA, Travel Weekly, and the University of Nevada. Over 4,000 geographically representative LGBT American consumers were surveyed about their travel patterns.

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Tom Hanks calls LDS Church’s support of Prop. 8 ‘un-American’

Actor Tom Hanks went after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for their support of California’s Proposition 8 while talking to Fox News. Today, the Church responded.

Hanks played a gay attorney who was fired from his job in the movie “Philadelphia,” and he paid special tribute to a couple of gay teachers in his Oscar acceptance speech. Now, he is slamming people who voted for an anti-gay marriage proposition in California.

See Tom Hanks calls LDS Church’s support of Prop. 8 ‘un-American’
KSL-TV, UT

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Queers Finally Do It on Daytime TV

Tommi Avicolli-Mecca writes in Beyond Chron:

“Back in August 1988 when I was managing editor of the Philadelphia Gay News, an historic thing happened on a daytime soap called As The World Turns: a character (an interior designer, no less) came out as gay.

“These days, that would be cause for a big yawn, but back then it was monumental. Hank Elliot was the first gay male character on a daytime drama. He was played by the handsome Brian Starcher. There had been a lesbian played by Donna Pescow on another soap (All My Children), but she was gone by that point, vanished like many a controversial character in soapland. … As The World Turns is once again making gay history, although he’d probably ask why it took the show so long to do it. In the new gay male storyline, Luke, the son of Lily and Holden (who were teens when Marland was writing the show) is having an affair with town heartthrob Noah, a new arrival to the cast.

While poor Hank Elliot couldn’t even kiss his lover, who was dying off camera of AIDS after being rejected by his family, Luke and Noah are pressing lips over the place, and now they’ve actually taken a roll in the hay. That’s right, Luke and Noah are soapdom’s first gay couple to actually do what birds and bees and straights have been doing all these years. They’ve even been seen the next morning frolicking around shirtless. Their adventures are displayed all over the Internet.“

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