AIR FORCE CAPTAIN FOUND GUILTY OF RAPING 4 MEN

Air Force Captain Devery L. Taylor was found guilty of raping four different men, and of attempting to rape two others.

Taylor has denied drugging and raping the men, insisting the sex was consensual.

FIRST MARINE WOUNDED IN IRAQ MARCHES OUT OF CLOSET!

Standing before Congress, staff Sargent Eric Alva burst out of the closet this week in an effort to help bring reform (and abolition) to the military's current 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy of gays in the military.

ABC News reports:
"Alva...was a decorated staff sergeant who had served in Somalia and Japan. As troops began to push into Iraq, on March 21, 2003, Alva was leading 11 Marines among 75 or so sailors and Marines in a 50- to 55-vehicle convoy on its way from the desert in Kuwait to Basra, Iraq. It was a logistical convoy moving through the desert at night, lights out, night-vision goggles on. The sand was so kicked up it was nearly impossible for Alva to even keep track of the vehicle in front of him. At one of three stops along the way, Alva, who hadn't eaten for a full day, was heating up an MRE when he went to get something out of his Humvee. 'I took maybe a step or two,' Alva said, 'and that is when the explosion went off.' It was a land mine. "

And on his coming out, Alva says:

"I told tons of people. A lot of my friends, my buddies, my closest Marines, people I had served in combat with. Straight guys, married, with children and everything, three of them which I have become their sons' godfather now. Everybody was just respectful and was just like ordinary. 'That's it? That's your big news?' Being on the front lines and serving with the people who even actually knew that I was gay, you know, that was never a factor. We were there to do a job. We were [there] to do a mission. I don't think people would have a hard time with it because they know that the person right next to them is going to be there to protect them, in our terms, 'have their back.'"

EVENT: Intermedia Arts GLBT Reading Series !

For all of you queer-bookworms (myself included) Intermedia Arts will be hosting the Carol Connolly GLBT reading series this Wednesday February 28th at 7pm at the aforementioned Intermedia Arts here in lovely Uptown 2822 Lyndale Ave South. According to the website:

"EMILY AUGUST's poems examine colonization as a metaphor for the misuse of physical power in our personal relationships, as well as the dislocating and terrifying nature of social artifice and personal inauthenticity. A new cycle of poems examines growing up with an adopted sister who is mentally ill, and explores the mythical legacy of family.

KEVIN "KAOZ" MOORE is a native Clevelander and an award winning writer, actor, poet and educator. Moore won the Videographer's Association of America's Award of Distinction in Creative Writing in 2002 for a spoken word piece entitled Venom. Moore represented Cleveland in the 2002 and 2003 National Poetry Slam competitions in Minneapolis and Chicago, and in 2004 he released his first independent full-length spoken word/hip hop disk, Project Mayhem Vol. 1.

Hosted by John Medeiros and Andrea Jenkins.
All Carol Connolly Readings are free and open to the public."

There you go! And hopefully, there you'll go! (ugh, sorry)

SAPPHIC-SISTERS DOMINATE OSCARS

Last Nights Academy Awards boasted a bevy of Lesbian-Lovelies.
Aside from it's host, Ellen DeGeneres and her partner Portia De Rossi, the event sported a win by Melissa Etheridge who was accompanied by her Partner Tami Lynn. Also, in an unrelated story (my lawyer made me write that), also attending (stag) were confirmed batchelorettes Jodi Foster and Queen Latifa.

UPDATE: Victim of Gay-Bashing Dies

In a sad ending to a disturbing occurrence of Gay-Bashing initially reported here last week (2/23), 72 year old Anothny Anthos died due to injuries acquired during an assault by a man wielding a pipe, after inquiring as to whether Anthos was a gay man.

Illinois One Step Closer to Gay Marriage

Illinois State Representative Greg Harris filed legislation this week that would permit same-sex couples in that state to marry. Harris, who is gay says:

"From my community, we believe we should have the full, equal rights as our heterosexual siblings to marry who we choose, and we should call it marriage. We should not call it civil union," and "We want to make it very clear we are not forcing any faith-based organization to act outside of their faith and traditions," he continues "If your faith did not believe in same-sex marriage, you would not be required to consecrate those"

It is unclear as to how likely it is the bill will pass.

Gay Rapper Calls Out Eminen on Homophobic Lyrics

Gay rapper DeadLee talked with CNN's Ted Rowlands about Eminen's homophobic lyrics, and how the rapper uses gays as easy targets saying :
"I think an artist actually has a responsibility too. There's a deal, like I said, that whole song with Eminem (with the lyrics that go) 'I hate fags? The answer's yes'? If he would have said that same thing, like, 'Do I hate blacks? The answer's yes', 'Do I hate Hispanics , the answer's yes', I think Eminem would be dead today. I think he's trying to pick on the people who he thinks are weak, and can't defend themselves. And I'm kind of stepping up to the game with all kinds of homo-rappers and saying, we're not weak, we can go head to head with you in the rap game, and even in a political stance, and say we're here. You can't be picking on us. It's so easy for people to say 'I hate gays'. It's the one group of people that it's still okay to hate on."

Detroit Man Clings to Life After Gay-Bashing

Andrew Anthos, a 72 year old Detroit MI Man, was brutally beaten outside his apartment with a pipe after being approached by a man asking if he was gay. According to the Detroit News, the man remains in a coma, and is not expected to survive the weekend.

SCHWARZENEGGER Threatens to Veto Potential Gay-Marriage Bill

This week, at a California YMCA Youth and Government conference, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to veto any Gay-marriage bill that may come before him. This, despite getting his start in a largely gay-hollywood, and amidst rumors of his gay-for-pay salad days as reported, in among many places, Radar, Lady Bunny, and Pop Muse who wrote:

"Schwazzy (Schwarzenegger) was brought to this country by Joe Gold (founder of Gold's Gym.) Joe was a deeply closeted homosexual for his entire life up until close to his death. Joe once confessed is his final years (to a straight trainer acquaintance of mine) that Arnold (whom Joe was deeply in love with) spent many a night doing 'Gay for Pay Hustling' when he first got to LA. It was how many BodyBuilders afforded to live, buy steroids, and train pre-bodybuilding sponsorships. (Apparently Gays weren't so frightening to Arnold when he had to put food in his immigrant mouth and needles in his immigrant ass.) Joe painted a vivid picture of Arnold as a Hustler for Bodybuilding fame, then a Hustler for Hollywood fame, and now obviously, a Hustler for Republican fame."

Perhaps Govenor Schwarzenegger's stand against gay marriage comes not despite his alleged past, but because of it. Just a thought.

PICTURE OF THE DAY: JOHN TRAVOLTA LIP-LOCKING HIS MALE "FRIEND"

John Travolta and employee: courtesy of The National Enquirer

HERO: Charles Barkley Loves the Gays!

During a CNN interview, Charles Barkley made yet another courageous pro-gay statement in reaction to the Tim Hardaway 'I hate gays' debacle. Barclay says: "For a black man – who should understand oppression more than anyone – to make these statements makes the episode that much worse."

Barkley has been quoted in the past singling the praises of his many gay friends and associates, as well as coming out in support of gay marriage on ESPN saying "I think if they want to get married, God bless them" and on CMI that "I'm a big advocate of gay marriage,"

I think I'm developing a wee-crush.

ZERO: Sinclere Lee Supports Hardaway, Spews More Hate

Sinclere Lee of Blacknewsweekly.com came out today in support of Tim Hardaway and his homophobic slurs:

"Tim Hardaway’s 'I hate gay people' statement about former NBA center John Amaechi, who disclosed last week he's gay, is an ugly act of intolerance but when it’s all said and done, most Black Americans support Hardaway’s sentiments, from a religious point-of-view, that is. While we all should be tolerant of others who are different, it’s hard for the average Black in this country to justify homosexuality. Our culture, our religion and many of the moral standards, we have as Blacks, won’t let us believe that homosexuality is right and UNGODLY. It’s not right! In fact, it’s an abomination against God, and the Black community will have nothing to do with that nasty behavior. Another thing that has turn Blacks against the gay community is that when you gays try to compare your perverted lifestyle with the social struggle of Blacks, it makes most socially conscious Black sick. You gays have chosen to be the way you are… you were not born gay; no one is born gay. We were born Black in a racist country and we didn’t make the choice in that matter. So the Black community supports Tim Haraway and Isaiah Washington for keeping it real! And, their anti-gay remarks are just a reflection of how Blacks feel about the gays. The gays tied to dog out Isaiah Washington of Grey’s Anatomy for calling a cast mate faggot. The gays got all the rage, and now some cast members of Grey’s Anatomy are keeping their distance from Washington. The gays made Washington go to rehab for a week of counseling for his repeated use of the homophobic slur, faggot. He stirred up the controversy during a Golden Globes press conference when he used the term faggot while talking about the incident. The gay community says anti-gay comments by Blacks "demonstrate the need to continue the conversation." Yeah, the conversation about how you gays are going to hell for being gay. "

Man, this breaks my heart. So much hate. So much ignorance.

HERO: Bill Gates (yeah, that Bill Gates) Fights HIV

It was just announced that the Gates Foundation , along with the Canadian Government (God bless those Canadians!) will be testing out a new AIDs Vaccine. Gates says: "This money is going to be spent on some very important causes in this century, and of the top 20 diseases that create the inequity, we will have either had drugs or vaccines to virtually eliminate most all of those. AIDS is the toughest, but certainly in my lifetime, I'd be very surprised if we don't have a vaccine."

Woohoo! I'm starting to feel bad I own a Mac.

Make a Day-Trip to New Jersy to Wed Your Sweetie !

Well, not exactly wed, but to civilly unite! (gaah, that sounds so unromantic).

New Jersey just became the 3rd State to allow civil unions for same-sex couples ( thats us homos!).

Now all I have to do is find a fella...

PICTURE OF THE DAY

One Step Closer to an HIV Vaccine

Peter Kwong of the National Institutes of Health recently said that a "site of vulnerability" may have been located on the HIV virus (seen above) that would enable a vaccine to prevent the initial infection. In a telephone interview, Kwong states:

"Having that site and knowing that you can make antibodies against it means that a vaccine is possible," he further stated "It doesn't say we've gotten there. But it's taken it off the list from an impossible dream and converted it to something that is a (mere) technical barrier."

The Aids virus has killed more than 21 million people since 1981, and the HIV virus currently infects more than 40 million.

NBA PLAYER SAYS HE "HATES GAYS"

During an interview on a Miami Radio Talk show, Miami Heat's Tim Hardaway was quoted as saying " You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States." The NBA then rushed in for damage control, banning Hardaway from speaking as a representative of their organization.

Ricky Martin Gives Bush La Vida-Finger

During a recent performance in Puerto Rico, Ricky Martin (seen above with friend) recently responded to a mention of George Bush by flipping the bird. Martin was one of the performers featured at President Bush's inauguration.

More Bad News for GLBT Obama-Backers

In a recent Advocate article, Reverend Irene Monroe delves even deeper into Barak Obama's opposition to gay marriage, and how his deep-seeded religious beliefs affect his opinion of gays and lesbians in general.

"I was reminded that it is my obligation not only as an elected official in a pluralistic society, but also as a Christian, to remain open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is misguided," Obama wrote in his recent memoir, "The Audacity of Hope."

But Obama's audacity is not only his unwillingness to support the issue, but also his misunderstanding and misuse of the term "gay marriage." The terminology "gay marriage" not only stigmatizes and stymies our efforts for marriage equality, but it also suggests that LGBT people's marriages are or would be wholly different from those of heterosexuals, thus altering its landscape, if not annihilating the institution of marriage entirely.

Obama's remarks in a recent interview with Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" spoke somewhat encouragingly about granting LGBT couples not marriage equality, but certainly civil union rights.

Having lived outside of America during its turbulent decades of the Jim Crow era and legal segregation, Obama may not know on a visceral and lived-experienced level what those decades had been like for African Americans.

But, as a civil rights attorney, he ought to know that granting LGBT Americans only the right to civil unions violates our full constitutional right -- and reinstitutionalizes the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson. As a result of that decision, the "separate but equal" doctrine became the rule of law until it was struck down in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision.

However, Obama doesn't understand that regardless of one's gender expression or sexual orientation, we want equal status to be institutionalized within our marriages as well.

Although not a cradle Christian, Obama embraced a newfound religious identity in Christianity late in his life. And his affinity to conservative Christian beliefs not only informs his decision on the issue of marriage equality, but it also solidifies his decision about us in a community of believers like himself.

"I must admit that I may have been inflected with society's prejudices and predilections and attribute them to God," Obama writes in his book. "My work with pastors and lay people deepened my resolve to lead a public life ? I had no community or shared traditions in which to ground my most deeply held beliefs. The Christians with whom I worked recognized themselves in me; they saw that I knew their Book and shared their values and sang their songs."

Religion has become a peculiar institution in the theater of American politics. Its Latin root, religio, means "to bind," and it has served as a legitimate power in binding people's shared hatred in both red states and blue states, both intentionally and unintentionally.

Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" is not a must-read for LGBT voters, because he fails to fully comprehend or sincerely commit to the issue of social justice for all Americans. He does not tackle head-on how the religious rhetoric of this political era has played an audacious role in discrimination against LGBT people, leaving us with little to no hope, his rhetoric included.

"In years hence, I may be seen as someone who was on the wrong side of history. I don't believe such doubts make me a bad Christian," Obama writes.

As LGBT voters, our job is neither to judge nor vote for Obama on whether he is a good Christian. It is, however, for us to judge and vote on whether he is a good statesman.

If he should run for president, he wouldn't get my vote.

Dame Edna Offers to Adopt Anna Nicole's Baby

According to TMZ.com, Dame Edna Everage has offered to adopt the currently (until we find the baby's daddy) orphaned baby of Anna Nicole Smith, upon the condition she can rename the child 'Lois'.

If this adoption transpires, it will no doubt result in the first bit of normalcy the child has ever experienced.

Catholic League Suceeds in Eradicating Gay from Edward's Campaign

The John Edward's Presidential Campaign allowed it's last remaining source of Gay-Controversy to resign from working on his campagne.

Melissa McEwan resigned her position as a Technical Advisor after being deemed too gay-friendly and subsequently receiving pressure from Bill Donohue and the Catholic League.

GAYDAR Founder Plunges to His Death

Gary Frisch, 38, the founder of the Gay-Personals Website Gaydar fell to his death from his apartment balcony in London. Officials aren't saying if they suspect foul play. An anniversary party planned for this Thursday, to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Gaydar Radio, will go on as planned.

Obama Reiterates Opposition to Gay Marriage

Presidential hopeful Barak Obama restated his opposition to legal marriage for gays and lesbians stating "civil unions are fine, but marriage is a religious bond".

You know, It breaks my heart to think this may be a case of minority suppressing minority. Shouldn't we be working together to eradicate intolerance? It's also disheartening to have it implied that gays and lesbians don't have the same right to a religious bond that the straight community does. Stay tuned for deveopments, Queercities is watching all of the canidates like a hawk.

EVENT: PFLAG and a Gathering of Thesbians

Don't miss the PFLAG Theater Panel Discussion on Sunday February 18th, 2pm, at the Mayflower United Church of Christ, 106 E. Diamond Lake Rd. in Minneapolis. The evening features, among others, actor Tod Peterson and Jeffry Lusiak of the Outward Spiral Theater company discussing GLBT Theater in the Twin Cities. Call (612) 825-1660 for details.

UPDATE: Edwards Loses Queer-Friendly Blogger After Pressure From Catholic League

Amanda Macotte resigned her position as one of Presidential Candidate John Edward's chief bloggers after receiving relentless pressure from the Leagues' Bill Donohue. This new development comes as a major disappointment following Edwards assurance that neither gay-friendly blogger would lose their position following pressure from the Catholic League.

Craig Clashes with Gay Reporter

Daniel Craig lashed out at a gay reporter at a recent BAFTA party who complimented his looks as opposed to his talent. I hate when that happens!

I'll be back, I promise!

Well gang, I'm off to sunny Fort Lauderdale! My good friend Gerry is treating me to a fun-in-the-sun Florida adventure. I have never been to the warm ocean, never frolicked on a sunny beach. I will be leaving my laptop at home, simply because I have the type of luck that if I bring my laptop with me , something heinous will happen to it, so, it stays home.

I'll be back Tuesday, so, until then...

Adios!

-Dave

Catholic League Blasts Edwards for hiring Pro-Gays

The Catholic League, some 350,000 strong, has taken Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards to task for hiring two gay-friendly woman as bloggers. No word from Edwards camp yet, but my fingers and toes are crossed he will do the right thing and not dismiss these women for fear of alienating voters. Then again, finding a politician with integrity is about as rare as finding a straight man at a Cher concert (oooh, I'm gonna get letters about that one...)

Basketball Player Dribbles Way Out of Closet

Just in time for the release of his new Biography Man in the Middle, former NBA basketball player John Amaechi has come out of the closet. Many close to Amaechi say that during his NBA hey day, he lived more by the 'don't ask, don't tell' philosophy than he did any type of subterfuge, re: dating women as a beard. So, kudos for that I expect. Though the trend of celebrities coming out just in time to promote a book or other project, has left me a bit disenchanted. I'd like like to see more selfless acts of coming out, as opposed to the self-serving.

Hilton Dtops both F-Bomb and N-Bomb in Candid Video

Paris Hilton was videotaped using both the new F-Word as well as the N-Word (Again. Remember the incident last year?). What's most surprising is how no one either seems to care, or are particularly surprised (except GLAAD). I expect it's because knowing her history of behavior as we all do, we don't expect much more of her. This shocks us about as much as hearing she was munching on a roasted puppy. And, how many millions of little girls see her as a role model? (don't believe me? Go to the mall and observe the innumerable 11 year old girls wearing crop-tops and mini-skirts, adopting 'la attitude' of an heiress).

Oz Star Charged with Negligent Homicide

Granville Adams, a star of the homo-favorite HBO TV series Oz (it's a prison thing) was arrested on Saturday and charged with negligent homicide in relation to an incident that occurred in a nightclub he was employed at. Orlando Valle allegedly plunged to his death down and elevator shaft after an altercation with Adams.

Haggard cuerd of his queer

Defrocked uber-preacher Ted Haggard was just released from deprogramming camp. A member of his 'oversight board', Reverend Tim Ralf insists Haggard was never really gay to begin with, just 'acting out'. Which is fine with me, our team is better without him.

A Wolf in Diva's Clothing?

In a brilliant example of PR spin, what many consider to be homophobic remarks uttered by Dreamgirl Jennifer Hudson late last year, have been effectively buried by the juggernaut Hollywood publicity-machine (first you've heard I'm sure). When asked by The Dallas Voice