Weekend Watercooler: Billie Joe Armstrong talks about his sexuality…again
• Bi now, maybe later. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong is having a big year. A new musical, American Idiot [1], based on Green Day’s last two albums opens on Broadway April 20th. Out [2] magazine has an interview with the singer and Michael Mayer the musical’s director. Its been more than sixteen years since Armstrong told the Advocate “I think I’ve always been bisexual. It’s ingrained in our heads that it’s bad, when it’s not bad at all. It’s a very beautiful thing.” These days Armstrong is not sure if he still identifies as bisexual. “But I’d never say that I’m not. I don’t really classify myself as anything. And when it comes to sex, there are parts of me that are very shy and conservative. I want to respect my wife.” Please Billie stay bi long enough to plant a big kiss on my lips!
[3]
• Lesbians denied. Across the street from Berlin’s memorial for the six million Jewish Holocaust victims sits another memorial [4]. Erected in 2008 this, often vandalized, memorial is dedicated to the homosexuals victimized at the hands of the Nazis. Currently the concrete slab has a window that participants can view video of a kiss between two men.
Every two years the video is to be traded out. In May, the video will be replaced for one of two women kissing. Holocaust scholars are up in arms citing a distortion of historical facts.
“Research shows that the persecution of lesbian women by the Nazi regime was not comparable to that of homosexual men.”
According to Germany’s Culture Minister Michael Naumann [5], this fact is stated on a plaque at the memorial and the monuments original concept was to memorialize present day GLBT discrimination in addition to the Nazi persecution of homosexuals.
Come on people, discrimination is discrimination.
[6]
• Another murder. A 49 year old Connecticut man, Luis Otero [7], was arrested for the murder of a woman who was having a sexual relationship with his mentally challenged daughter.
Otero murdered Madeline Brisson and placed her body in a freezer but his guilty conscience led him to the local police department to confess the murder and to lead the police to Brisson’s body.
The night of the crime, the two roommates were drinking and during an argument over the care of Otero’s daughter, Brisson stated that she had slept with her.
Otero was aware of Brisson’s previous lesbian relationships and “he got angry”, murdered his roommate and placed her body in the freezer.
These stories never cease to infuriate me.
[8]
• Insult to injury. The decision that allowed Derrick Martin [9] attend the prom with his boyfriend was protested by a group of his classmates on Thursday.
Most of the dozen attending the rally said they weren’t bothered by Martin being gay or being allowed to attend prom with his partner. But they said the school system’s decision has brought too much attention to their small town.
They are afraid that their town will be “known as a pro gay town.”
Martin, who was kicked out of his house by his parents recently, will still attend the prom but may wait until afterwards to speak to the media to “help minimize the attention that so many feel is unwelcome.”
I wish I had been this strong when I was in high school.
[10]
• Controversy. The Tribeca Film Festival [11] has included a film that has many in the GLBT community, including GLAAD [12], calling for protests.
“Ticked Off Trannies with Knives” [13] has the blogs [14] a buzzing with a few pro and a ton of con [15] posts. With the unfortunate title and references to murdered transsexuals in its trailer it doesn’t surprise that there is heated debates everywhere you turn.
The film’s description from the festival website: “When a group of transgender women are violently beaten and left for dead, the violated vixens turn deadly divas in this hilariously campy homage to the exploitation films of the ’70s and ’80s (“Transploitation,” anyone?).
“Loaded with bodacious bods and extreme violence, this revenge fantasy proves that it takes more than balls to get even.”
I have included a link to the trailer and would love to hear your thoughts.
[16]
• Cup of Joe. The wait for the new season of True Blood [17] seems like an eternity to me. I am such a huge fan and cannot wait to return to the land of Sookie on June 13th. HBO has released a teaser poster [18]for the new season that is just as witty as the show itself and I just had to share. Now I am REALLY needing my True Blood fix.
[19]
[1] http://americanidiotonbroadway.com/
[2] http://www.out.com/detail.asp?page=3&id=26574
[3] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-billie-joe-armstrong-detail.jpg
[4] http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/holocaust-memorial-lesbian-kiss-outcry-20100326-r0ay.html
[5] http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/holocaust-memorial-lesbian-kiss-outcry-20100326-r0ay.html
[6] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-gay-holocaust-memorial-berlin.detail.jpg
[7] http://www.courant.com/community/groton/hc-web-groton-murder-0325,0,5548980.story
[8] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-body-outline-murder-detail.jpg
[9] http://www.macon.com/2010/03/26/1073335/students-protest-bleckley-prom.html#ixzz0jJV5ed4e
[10] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-derrick-martin-gay-prom-student-georga-detail.jpg
[11] http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival/
[12] http://www.glaad.org/Page.aspx?pid=183
[13] http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/03/25/ticked-off-trannies-with-knives
[14] http://www.towleroad.com/2010/03/glaad-tribeca-film-fest-at-odds-over-ticked-off-trannies.html
[15] http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/15666/an-insensitive-tribeca-film-festival-pick-tickedoff-trannies-with-knives
[16] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-tribecca-film-ticked-off-trannies-with-knives-poster-detail.jpg
[17] http://www.hbo.com/true-blood/index.html
[18] http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/03/25/true-blood-season-3-teaser-poster/
[19] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-true-blood-season-three-tease-poster-detail.jpg
Effort To Ban Gay Unions Falling Short In Wash. State
The effort to place a gay-inclusive domestic partnership law up for a vote in Washington State appears to be falling short.
With a looming deadline of Saturday at 2PM, opponents of the law dubbed by the media as the “everything but marriage law” have only 4 full days left to gather thousands of valid signatures.
Opponents – a coalition of mostly religious groups – announced their attempt to repeal the bill in November, even before it became law in May. Gary Randall, president of the Faith and Freedom Network, says his group filed Referendum 71 because the law is too close to marriage and violates the law.
“The bill … elevates homosexual relationships to that of traditional marriage, thus eliminating any legal difference between domestic partnerships and marriage,” Randall wrote in a blog entry posted on the group’s website before the bill became law.
“I do not believe a majority [of] Washingtonians believe in homosexual marriage, nor do they want to become a national attraction for homosexuals from other states and countries,” he added.
Organizers, however, admit that they have fallen desperately behind in collecting the 120,577 valid signatures needed to qualify the measure. Randall told the conservative group Concerned Women for America that only 75,000 signatures had been collected as of Friday. Leaving the group at least 45,577 signatures short. But in order to ensure there are sufficient valid signatures, the group estimates it needs to collect 75,000 signatures. In other words, opponents need to collect as many signatures in one week as they did in the previous seven to eight weeks.
The Democratic-controlled House passed the bill in April along a mostly party-line vote of 62 to 35. Senators approved the bill in March with a 30 to 18 vote, and Governor Chris Gregoire signed the bill into law on May 18. See Effort To Ban Gay Unions Falling Short In Wash. State
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/effort-to-ban…
UK Roman Catholic church-funded marriage agency backs gay and unmaried parents
Terry Prendergast, the chief executive of Marriage Care, claimed there is “no evidence” that children do better if they are brought up in a traditional two-parent family.
He claimed that those who live together out of wedlock are trying to lead good lives but find themselves “consigned to the dustbin” by the church.
His comments – to be made this weekend to Quest, a group of homosexual Catholics – go directly against the church’s teaching, which holds that homosexuality is sinful and that families should be based on the marriage of a man and a woman.
Mr Prendergast said: “We see, for example, that statistically children do best in a family where the adult relationship is steady, stable and loving – you should note here perhaps that I stress adult, not married, since there is no evidence that suggests that children do best with heterosexual couples.”
He claimed that God was present in the relationships of married, homosexual and cohabiting heterosexual relationships where there was “commitment, consent and covenant”.
He went on: “They want to live good lives according to the precepts of the Gospels. They are an advert for the Church, an advert that the Church often ignores or consigns to the wastebin.”
See Catholic church-funded marriage agency backs gay and unmaried parents Telegraph.co.uk
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Creative Society Theater Company: A Male Mencius’s Mother Educate His Son and Moves House Three Times
“He is my Wife, He is my Mother”
Li Yu, the talented and pioneering writer in the 17th Century created this social realistic “Silent Opera” with his avant-garde ideology and audacious writing style. A Male Mencius’s Mother Educate His Son and Moves House Three Times depicted a genuine homosexual love affair. For this work, Li Yu choose to write in the style called Nihuaben, which means the works that was written in spoken language and structured as a novel. Even in the 21st Century, when homosexual relationship is no longer a taboo, this love affair spectacle can still overwhelm your mind for sure.
Katherine Hui-ling Chou, the playwright and director of Creative Society has been focusing on the gender and sexuality topics for a long time. For this production, she selected one of the short stories from the once dispersed collection of Li Yu and staged with subtle cross-casting choice to display this romance between the young beauties. It is a homosexual affair that covered by the illusion of the heterosexual love, the mother-son relationship that turns out to be the father-son connection and the false marriage between sister and brother. This heterosexual and homosexual ensemble in the 17th century can help viewers to re-discover the queer genealogy in the Chinese society.
From May 14 to 17, Creative Society Theater Company will present their 18th production, He is my Wife, He is my Mother at the Metropolitan Hall. This production assembled the best-welcomed theatre actors, Yen-ling Hsu and Hua-chien Hsu, the prominent performers, Shou-yuo Liu, Yi-hsiu Lee and Wei-wei Wu with the theater new blood, Ting-yi Chu and Alan Yang to bring audience this unique piece. For more ticket information, please visit the NCTH ticketing service website: http://www.artsticket.com.tw, or contact Creative Society via hotline: 02-23397528 See Creative Society Theater Company 創作社劇團
eTaiwan News * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Anti-gay minister the Rev Ian Watson in ‘Nazi battle’ outrage Times Online
The Church of Scotland is moving towards a schism after one of its ministers compared an increasingly determined campaign against gay clergymen to the war against the Nazis.
The Rev Ian Watson railed against homosexual lifestyles, declaring that such people would not “inherit the kingdom of God” in a sermon that religious leaders and politicians condemned as deeply disturbing.
Mr Watson is a prominent opponent of Scott Rennie, an openly gay minister whose appointment to a parish church last year has caused divisions. Mr Rennie, a divorced father of one, lives with his partner, David, and has the support of his Aberdeen Presbytery. The Church of Scotland is due to debate his appointment at its General Assembly next week after a petition was signed by almost a third of ministers pushing for all gays to be banned from the pulpit.
A motion has been lodged urging the Church not to “train, ordain, admit, readmit, induct or introduce to any ministry of the church anyone involved in a sexual relationship outside of marriage between a man and woman”.
See Anti-gay minister the Rev Ian Watson in ‘Nazi battle’ outrage Times Online * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Roman Catholic Bishop Tobin: Roamn Catholic apathy on same-sex ‘marriage’ must end
“Abysmal” Catholic apathy must be overcome to oppose those who are “fiercely determined” to impose homosexual “marriage,” Bishop of Providence, Rhode Island Thomas J. Tobin has warned. Reasserting Catholic teaching on sexual morality, he also said that same-sex “marriage” will endanger religious freedom.
Writing in his April 23 column in The Rhode Island Catholic, Bishop Tobin spoke of a “relentless” political march towards homosexual marriage, with New England leading the way. “The supporters of gay marriage in Rhode Island are well-organized and well-funded. They’re fiercely determined to impose their politically correct agenda on all the citizens of the state – human history, culture and moral principles not-withstanding. Anyone who opposes them is quickly labeled a bigot,” the bishop observed.
However, he said the typical Rhode Island Catholic’s response was indifferent and cited not wanting to judge people. Tobin also said that Catholics give rationalizations about the decline of Catholic influence.
“[G]ay marriage will affect you and you should be concerned. And there’s a lot we can do,” the bishop wrote, proceeding to review reasons Catholics oppose same-sex “marriage.”
Bishop Tobin explained that “homosexual activity is unnatural and gravely immoral. It’s offensive to Almighty God. It can never be condoned, under any circumstances. Gay marriage, or civil unions, would mean that our state is in the business of ratifying, approving such immoral activity.”
The movement for same-sex “marriage,” he added, “seeks to radically redefine the most fundamental institution of the human race, the building block of every society and culture. From the beginning, marriage has been defined as the stable union of man and woman, designed by God to continue the human race through the procreation of children.
“Homosexual relationships are not marriage – never have been, never will be.”
Bishop Tobin introduced what he called the “champagne principle.” Saying that not every wine has the unique characteristics of champagne, the bishop argued that someone who relabeled a bottle of Chianti and tried to sell it as champagne would be arrested for fraud.
Similarly, those who seek to redefine marriage and “to usurp the title ‘marriage’ for their morally bankrupt relationships,” are “committing an act of fraud,”he charged. “It’s insulting to those who have entered the authentic, sacred and time-honored institution of marriage over the years.”
See Bishop Tobin: Catholic apathy on same-sex ‘marriage‘ must end
Catholic News Agency – Denver,CO,USA * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Gay politicians’ hypocrisy uncovered in movie ‘Outrage’
As Obama passes his first 100 days in office, I find myself sad that we liberals have less and less to complain about. Guantanamo Bay is closing, good health care policy is in the works, and I no longer have nightmares about McCain invading my living room on top of an elephant as if he were a Carthaginian emperor.
Nonetheless, liberals in 2009 still have more things to complain about than Holden Caulfield would, holding a broken Miley Cyrus record.
One such complaint is homosexuality in America. This week’s “gay controversy” surrounded Miss California and her Twitter-quarrel with Perez Hilton. I could take an opinion on this. But I won’t. Why? Because important American figures don’t wear tiaras.
Moving on, a controversy occurred at the Tribeca Film Festival. A documentary titled “Outrage,” which outs allegedly closeted right-wing politicians, previewed this past weekend in lower Manhattan.
To begin with, I should be upset there’s a movie dedicated to this. To out someone is a bit of a faux pas, and this movie probably doesn’t help the queer cause. At the same time, it kind of makes the director of the film, Kirby Dick, look like the same four-letter word that is also his last name. On the other hand, gossiping about and laughing at the follies of Republican congressmen is definitely quite fun.
Dick’s film draws on a compilation of substantiated rumors to expose conservative Republicans. The more obvious of these individuals includes former Rep. Mark Foley, who was indicted for sexual relationships he had with 16-year-old male pages, and Larry Craig, who was caught cruising a men’s bathroom at a Minnesota airport.
See Gay politicians’ hypocrisy uncovered in movie ‘Outrage’ Daily Illini
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Burundi urged to repeal law criminalizing homosexuality
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International [advocacy websites] and 60 other groups on Friday urged the Burundian government [joint statement text; press release] to repeal a new law criminalizing homosexuality [JURIST news archive] in the country. The law was promulgated by President Pierre Nkurunziza [BBC profile] on April 22, and subjects those found guilty of engaging in a homosexual relationship to a fine or up to two years in prison, or both. The groups said that the law violates the Burundi Constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [texts] and would harm anti-AIDS efforts in the country:
We consider the law to violate the rights to privacy and freedom from discrimination protected by Burundi’s Constitution and enshrined in its international treaty commitments, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We deeply regret that the Burundian government has made a decision that writes human rights violations into law.
We regret that the law will hamper Burundi’s attempts to fight AIDS, by further marginalizing an at-risk population.
We respectfully remind the Government of Burundi that according to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, arrests on the basis of sexual orientation are, by definition, human rights violations. We will carefully monitor any arrests made on the basis of this law.
The law was passed [JURIST report] by the country’s National Assembly in November despite being rejected by the Burundi Senate the previous February. See Burundi urged to repeal law criminalizing homosexuality
JURIST -* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Tennessee seeks to ban gay adoptions
For the second year in a row, a bill has been filed in the Tennessee Senate that bans adoptions by gay and unmarried straight couples.
Senator Paul Stanley (R-Memphis) filed the bill today (Thursday, Jan. 29) that “prohibits any individual who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state from adopting a minor.” See Tennessee seeks to ban gay adoptions
Out & About, TN -
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Portland gay mayor hangs tough, won’t resign
(Portland, Oregon) The mayor of Portland, Ore., has decided not to resign despite calls for him to do so after he admitted he lied and asked a teenager to lie about their sexual relationship.
“Tomorrow, I go back (to) work as your mayor. I know I have let you down and …
