GayWisdom

Honor Ted Kennedy: Healthcare for Everyone

A friend posted this link on Facebook, and I can't think of a better way to honor Ted Kennedy than to get Congress to get off their,...um....dime...and pass legislation. Single payer. Universal healthcare. Now.

  Go to this website, and sign the petition.

Top Chef

Like any self-respecting Gay Foodie, I'm a long time fan of Top Chef...and I must admit to a crush on Tom Colicchio (both a culinary crush and a flat he's-hot-crush). Now I have another reason. An upcoming episode of the show has one of the Lesbian chefs balking at a "wedding challnge". Kudos to her. But to add complement to spine, Colicchio had this to say in a blog post of his own:

"I’m going to go out on a limb and say a few words about same-sex marriage: First of all, part of the problem with the issue is that it is framed by opponents as a discussion of whether gay people should get special rights. This is specious – yes, special legislation or court decisions grant them the right to wed in a particular state, however this is done to ensure that they share equal protection under the law by finally being able to avail themselves of the same rights as everyone else.  They are not seeking special treatment, just equitable treatment. Second, religion has no business being part of the discussion. When a couple is wed in a house of worship, the officiant may be performing a religious rite, but as far as the law is concerned, that officiant has been authorized to perform a civil function, plain and simple. And even were same-sex marriage to be legalized by the state, no one would be holding a gun to the heads of the clergy to require them to perform a ceremony that their faith or personal creed does not condone.  Just as some rabbis would not perform my marriage to my wife because I wasn’t Jewish, clergy can decline performing same-sex marriages; gay couples can either find clergy willing to officiate or can be wed in a civil setting. The idea that religious leaders are continuing to shape state law is just wrong. The institution of marriage should be available to all. The idea that you can have a life-long partner and not make decisions for them in a hospital, not share in insurance benefits, not automatically have parental rights unless you are the birth parent, is just flat-out wrong."

I don't think I've seen it expressed quite so well, anywhere, by anyone else. Bravo, indeed. Here's the clip:

Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock

Earlier this week I had an opportunity to catch an advance screening of the new Ang Lee film Taking Woodstock.

The movie has a great script that sparkle with the gifts of one of the best casts I've ever seen.  Everyone is believable and wonderful in their roles.  Demetri Martin, someone I knew only for his comedic work, is sweet and endearing as Elliot Tiber, the man who put the festival planners and Max Yasgur (played by the wonderful Eugene Levy) together.  His story (told in his memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life) is about the motel-owning parents he's trying to help (the brilliant Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman).  But the story is also about Tiber's coming to terms with his sexuality and trying to figure out what to do with his life.  The acting is all top shelf and some of the roles are worthy of Oscar consideration starting with Staunton role as the overbearing mother who manages to offer both the funniest and painful moments in the film. 

I left the movie thinking that Ang Lee may be the most Gay-friendly director working today.  Throughout his long career he's turned in some of the most thoughtful representations of Gay life -- from the couple in his early Wedding Banquet to the now classic Brokeback Mountain.  In telling the story of an iconic festival that took place months after the Stonewall rebellion, Lee doesn't skimp on the connection.  In many ways the Stonewall rebellion, which occurred a few months before Woodstock, is represented by Liev Schreiber's oscar-worthy performance as Vilma.  She arrives as an angel of sorts who helps Elliot loosen up and live his life.  These performances are the shiniest in a field of diamonds.

I just saw the movie a few hours ago but I highly recommend this film to our readers.  It was a delight  -- the music is good too if only secondary to the story of love and community that comes shining through.   - Dan

(FOR THE RECORD: The screening I attended was sponsored by The Nation magazine.  These are my opinions only.  Take it as a friendly suggestion!)

Why We Need Health Care Reform

This is a brilliant video that breaks it down -- the needs for government-run health care. Something Ted Kennedy was devoted to passing for the last three decades of his life.

Please share this video with others.  It deserves to go viral.

Senator Edward Kennedy - Rest in Peace

Your stature's one I want to memorize-- 

Your whole level of being, to impose 

On any other comers, man or woman. 

I'd ask them that they carry what they are 

With your particular bearing, as you wear 

The flaws that make you both yourself and human. 

 Adrienne Rich - Stepping Backward

In Case You Needed A Reason to Be In Love with Brad Pitt

Riff and His Mum

OK...I'm in love with both of these people. 

Before the Fall...

A fascinating lecture from the former Secretary of Labor...before The Fall From Grace. This is, admittedly, long. But well worth the time.

:

Jesse's Journal

Do we need "role models?

Is Perez Hilton a Gay role model? Not according to many readers of the Advocate, who protested vigorously when the magazine put the celebrity blogger on the cover of its August issue. There was such a strong reaction that Advocate editor in chief Jon Barrett had to issue a response. Even so, when Advocate.com asked its readers if “Perez Hilton [is] an appropriate spokesman for marriage equality and other gay rights issues,” 3.1% of respondents said yes while a whopping 95.6% said no. “Perez Hilton is a major embarrassment to our entire culture. No one likes a gossipy, hateful, self-serving bitter queen. He needs to be silenced for the good of the WORLD, not just the gay community,” read a typical comment. There is even a Facebook group, “1,000,000 AGAINST Perez Hilton being the GLBTQ SPOKESPERSON,” devoted to Hilton haters within the GLBT community. Unfortunately, as an openly-gay man who is often in the spotlight, Hilton has come to represent GLBT people, whether we like it or not.

The online Wiktionary (en.wiktionary.org) defines “role model” as “a person who serves as an example, whose behavior is emulated by others. Wiktionary’s sister Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) elaborates, adding that the term “first appeared in Robert K. Merton’s socialization research of medical students. Merton hypothesized that individuals compare themselves with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires.“ An even better online description was found in techup.org, which tells us that “true role models are those who possess the qualities that we would like to have and those who have affected us in a way that makes us want to be better people. To advocate for ourselves and our goals and take leadership on the issues that we believe in. We often don’t recognize our true role models until we have noticed our own personal growth and progress.”

There was a time when Gay, Lesbian, bisexual or transgender people had precious few role models; men or women who showed us what it was like to be queer. When  I was a kid in the 1960s, the only Gays I knew of were Liberace and a swishy “artist” who live with his mother in the apartment across the hall. It was only later that I learned about the likes of Franklin Kameny, Barbara Gittings, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, and Jack Nichols (left) and Lige Clarke (at right). Kids growing up today have a larger group of models to look up to, ranging from out athletes like Martina Navratilova, John Amaechi and Esera Tuaolo to entertainers like Ellen De Generes, Neil Patrick Harris and Wilson Cruz. Even more inspiring are young GLBT activists who began their work at an early age, like South Florida’s Waymon Hudson and Tobias Packer. “Elder statesmen” like “Pompano Bill,” Larry Friedlander, Bill Mullins and Dick Rogers (just to name a few South Florida models) teach us that Gay men can lead active lives well into their golden years.

Unfortunately, even role models are human, and too many of them fall off their pedestals. We have seen too many famous or beloved athletes and politicians, of all genders or sexual orientations, get caught having illicit sex, committing petty or major crimes, or using illegal substances. Dustin Lance Black, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Milk) and Advocate cover boy, got into a pickle when photos of the comely Mr. Black, naked and enjoying bareback sex, appeared in various web sites. Though Black has every right to enjoy bareback sex (as stupid as it is) doing it in front of a camera doesn’t help the reputation of someone who – like Ranger Doug of the country comedy group Riders in the Sky – is an idol of (Gay) American youth. 

Black has since responded to the scandal the way people usually do, by suing the messengers: “The Oscar-winning screenwriter’s henchmen at Lavely & Singer - the bulldog law firm behind seemingly every celeb’s sex tape lawsuit threats – are going after Starzlife.com and its proprietors, which the lawsuit alleges distributed photos (and supposedly has video) of Black and one X [my deletion] having anal sex (without a condom, as everyone has noted!). Something about invasion of privacy and copyright infringement,” notes the web site queerty.com. Let’s see how this goes. Meanwhile, we should all heed queerty’s sage advice: “NEVER TAKE PHOTOS OF YOURSELF NAKED OR HAVING SEX, EVER, BECAUSE THEY WILL BE RELEASED.” (Caps were in the original, though I share the sentiment.)

Even worse is the case of Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Bleiweiss. Back in March the South Florida Gay Blade wrote a glowing article about the openly Gay Deputy, noting that he “received the 2008 Employee of the Year award for the Oakland Park Division for his outstanding work, at a ceremony on the evening of Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at the Oakland Park City Hall. This is the first time an openly Gay deputy received this award from BSO [Broward Sheriff’s Office]. . . . Among Bleiweiss’ accomplishments are his capture of two robbers and recovering their AK-47 weapons, his arrest of a serial arsonist, and having made over 100 arrests in the last year that were directly related to quality of life issues in Oakland  Park.” Five months later, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, this “pioneering, openly Gay Broward sheriff’s deputy who fought discrimination within that agency earlier in his career” was accused of being “a manipulative sex offender who preyed on illegal immigrants too scared to contact authorities. . . . Bleiweiss, arrested [August 3], faces 14 charges, among them three counts of sexual battery by a person in authority, four counts of battery and one count of stalking. He’s accused of intimidating at least eight men in his Oakland Park patrol district into performing sex acts with him during traffic stops.” Ouch! Though Gay activist Michael Rajner said that “this is not an act that necessarily impacts the gay community,” I cringed when I read the headline: “Deputy accused of sexual abuse was fighter for Gay rights” Already the bigots have come out of the woodwork, flooding the Sun-Sentinel’s message board with hateful messages about all Gay men, based on the actions of one Gay man. Though Deputy Bleiweiss is of course innocent until proven guilty, his precipitous fall from grace robs our community of one more role model.

Role models are good to have around, but we cannot always depend on them. So we should be our own role model; and be the best Lesbian woman, Gay man, bisexual or transgender person that we can be.

Jesse Monteagudo is a South Florida-based freelance writer and gay activist. Write him at jessemonteagudo@aol.com.