Month: March 2006

  • queer.bits
    small news stories


    this week's source:
    + Houston Voice


    Catholic Charities faces rift over gay adoption ban
    Mar. 17, 2006


    BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Archdiocese’s Catholic Charities said March 10 it would stop providing adoption services because of a state law protecting gays from discrimination as adoptive parents. Republican Gov. Mitt Romney has asked his staff to draft a "very narrow" bill that would exempt Catholic Charities from the state’s nondiscrimination laws so it can continue to provide adoption services without serving gay couples, the governor said March 13. In so doing, Romney argued that maintaining the services of Catholic Charities was more important than maintaining a faith-blind law, which has allowed 13 same-sex couples to adopt children during the past 20 years. Meanwhile in San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced March 14 he was scuttling plans to attend ceremonies marking the ascension of the city’s former archbishop William Levada to the rank of cardinal over the same issue. Newsom, who is Catholic, said he was reacting to an e-mail made public last weekend from Levada, now the Vatican’s chief doctrinal watchdog, warning San Francisco’s Catholic Charities that, "Catholic agencies should not place children for adoption in homosexual households."






    Gay N.H. Episcopal bishop back to work after alcohol rehab



    CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson is back on the job after spending a month receiving treatment for an alcohol problem. "He is going to kind of ease back in to things," Robinson spokesman Mike Barwell said March 14. The New Hampshire bishop returned from treatment last week and came into the office March 13 for the first time in a month. "We are going to keep a low profile," Barwell said. The Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop surprised many when he disclosed last month that he was being treated for his "increasing dependence" on alcohol. His assistant, Rev. Tim Rich, said Robinson’s growing awareness of his problem, rather than a crisis, prompted the move.






    Montana Baptist church says campaign laws unconstitutional



    HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Attorneys for a Baptist church accused of breaking state campaign laws say those laws are unconstitutional and a recent ruling against the church by the state commissioner of political practices strengthens their case. The March 7 ruling said Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church in East Helena violated state law by not reporting in-kind support of a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Because the church held meetings, distributed petitions and was involved in other political activities, it became an "incidental campaign committee" required to file disclosure records, Higgins said. The anti-gay marriage amendment passed by about a 2-to-1 margin.






    Gays, conservative Christian leaders agree on guidelines for schools



    WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of conservative Christian and gay rights groups have agreed on guidelines for how educators, parents and teachers should deal school issues involving sexual orientation. The Christian Educators Association International and the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network helped write the guidelines that were unveiled on March 9. The groups will promote them to the hundreds of thousands of people they represent. Schools are encouraged to form task forces of people with divergent views, agree on ground rules for civil debate, understand the First Amendment and state law, keep parents informed and ensure kids don’t go to school in fear.






    Molestation suspect was enrolled in ‘ex-gay’ ministry



    West Palm Beach, Fla. — A former Summit Christian School teacher arrested in early March after admitting having sex with a male teenager was enrolled in a controversial "ex-gay" ministry, Love In Action International, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported March 12. Chad Stoffel, a popular teacher and coach, resigned in December, according to school officials. On Feb. 1, a counselor at Love in Action in Memphis, Tenn., called a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detective and told him Stoffel had confessed to molesting "numerous" boys in South Florida, according to Stoffel’s arrest report.




    © 2006 The Houston Voice | A Window Media Publication

  • All That Glitters

    mimismile800 How's this for an understatement? "My next film is gonna star Mariah Carey, so that should be really interesting."

    I initially interpret Aaron Woodley's words as a Colbert-ian jape but, no, he's quite serious. Reports published in the industry trades last week confirm it. Produced by Lee Daniels (Monster's Ball, The Woodsman), the film is called Tennessee and is slated to start shooting in the spring.

    "It's a straight-ahead drama about two brothers on a road trip," Woodley continues. "The younger brother has leukemia and they're searching for their estranged father to help save his life through a bone-marrow transplant. They haven't talked to him in 10 years and he was an abusive alcoholic. Along the way, they meet Mariah Carey's character, who's working in a diner and has dreams of being a country singer."

    Woodley admits that this is about as far away from Rhinoceros Eyes as he could get. But he's determined not to be pigeonholed "as the director who does these weird quirky movies." (Perhaps he's recalling the time his uncle nearly directed Basic Instinct 2.) As for Carey's contribution, Woodley believes it will banish any unpleasant memories of her first movie venture. "Glitter," he says, letting the title hang in the air for a moment. "Whatever -- that's the past. People will see what she's really capable of."

    She really liked Rhinoceros Eyes, too. She told him so while she was giving him a tour of her closets. No, he's still not making this up.

    ______________________________________________________________

    Source: Eye Weekly

  • Two Gays Run For New Orleans Mayor

     by Rex Wockner 365Gay.com Editor-At-Large


    (New Orleans, Louisiana) Two openly gay men are among the 23 candidates seeking to become mayor of the hurricane- and flood-ravaged Big Easy.


    James Arey, a classical-music disc jockey and music manager for the local National Public Radio station, is running as "the arts candidate."


    "Support for the arts equals job growth, both as a tool for increasing the tax base of the city and creation of actual new jobs, and as a vehicle to create more well-rounded public-school students," Arey, 38, said in an interview.


    "I'm talking with gallery owners, artists, people who run studios in the French Quarter and in the arts district downtown to expand the notion of an arts season," he said.


    Arey also has an "arboretum plan." He wants to work with nurseries and forestry agencies to replant historic trees and shrubs.


    In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Arey says the city needs a serious evacuation plan. Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city in up to 20 feet of water and killed nearly 1,000 people when the storm surge broke the levees.


    "An evacuation needs to have the ability to reach all residents of the city [through such things as] global positioning and satellite phones," he said. "The district and ward captains would report to neighborhood leaders who would report to their city councilperson, who would report to the mayor, who stays in constant contact with the governor's office. Every citizen of the city and every elected official has an obligation to make sure people we know, people we work with, our neighbors are safely evacuated.


    "There will be a next time," Arey said. "It's just a matter of time and to what extent."


    Only about 189,000 of New Orleans' 484,000 residents have returned to the city nearly seven months after Katrina hit, the levees collapsed and a total evacuation was ordered. Many remain elsewhere because they lack a home and/or job to come back to. Others can't return because only 20 of the city's 124 public schools have reopened.


    Arey only recently moved back into his home in the flooded Mid-City neighborhood.


    "Lesbians saved my neighborhood," he said. "That is absolutely true. I had to evacuate to Atlanta because our WWNO studios were unavailable. We broadcast via a PBS satellite from Atlanta. Lesbians snuck back into my neighborhood after hours and before hours.


    "They harassed FEMA representatives, they stopped Red Cross trucks and got food and water for workers, they brought in supplies and gas masks, they stayed on Entergy [the gas and electric company]. They got into everyone's house, with permission. They got out on the Web with the first pictures from the neighborhood. Anybody in that area that needed assistance, they were there to provide it."


    Mid-City likely has New Orleans' highest concentration of lesbians, while gay men are more likely to live in the French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny, the Bywater and Uptown, none of which flooded.


    Arey doesn't expect to win the April 22 election. He thinks he'll come in fifth or sixth. But he believes his candidacy serves to keep important issues front-and-center in the campaign.


    The top two vote-getters will advance to a May 20 runoff election.


    Arey said his sexual orientation has at no time become an issue in the campaign.


    The second gay candidate is Leo Watermeier, a former state representative and founding cochair of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans.


    He is promising to "cut the waste" in such areas as no-bid contracts, consultants, outside attorneys, unclassified employees, city cars, employee travel and public relations.


    With the savings, he proposes to improve the police department, cut the crime rate, fix the streets, upgrade city services and restore parks, playgrounds and libraries.


    New Orleans, Watermeier points out, has a "reputation of corruption, political payoffs and sweetheart deals."


    In the wake of the disaster, Watermeier says the city's levees and pumps must be upgraded to provide protection from a Category 5 hurricane, the strongest. Katrina was at Category 3 when it hit New Orleans.


    He also proposes diverting a local hotel tax earmarked for convention-center expansion to rebuild streets, parks, libraries and infrastructure.


    Like Arey, Watermeier doubts he'll make it to the runoff election, but that wasn't always the case.


    "Before Katrina ... there was this strong sense that you couldn't beat [Mayor Ray Nagin]," he said. "The population of the city was majority black [as is Nagin] and no sitting mayor has been defeated since 1947. So I started doing this grassroots campaign and, at the time, it seemed like there was a good chance I was going to be his main opposition because the big-guns kinds of people didn't see him as vulnerable.


    "I wanted to stop the waste and fix the city," Watermeier said. "We were trying to get good government in New Orleans. Now, Katrina changed all our worlds and the big guns have gotten into the race -- the sharks are circling the body; they smell blood and see an easier target. So, my chances have kind of been sinking."


    Watermeier, 56, supports the rebuilding of all New Orleans neighborhoods, including the ones flattened by the force of the water as it smashed through levees and the ones where homes were destroyed by floodwater that remained for several weeks.


    "Every neighborhood has a right to rebuild," he said. "If the path of Katrina had been 20, 30 or 40 miles west, all of the city would have been under water. The surge would have been higher when it broke through the levees -- and when it ended up leveling off, the flood level would have been higher. We live in a flood plain. You can't say that there are areas of the city that are safer."


    Watermeier, too, said his sexual orientation has been a nonissue in the campaign.


    "I don't see it being a concern," he said. "I haven't made it an issue. Early in the campaign, we decided not to hide it. On the Web site it says I was cochair of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center. But, like in life, people get to know you, and then as they get to know more about you, they learn more about you.


    "So that was the kind of approach we took with the whole gay thing," he said. "Let people get to know me as a candidate ... and then it would become, like, 'Oh, yeah, he's gay,' and it's just another part of learning about him."


    ©365Gay.com 2006

  • I am the B- L - A - C -K guy

    Written by P.A. Jervis Jr


    I am the B L A C K guy
    That stands in the back of the line.


    I am the B L A C K guy
    I am a Q U I E T guy
    That says nothing while you lie

    I am a B L A C K guy
    I don't sing. I don't rap.
      Does this disqualify me as a
      B L A C K guy?
    I hang out with my friends that are
      W H I T E guys.
    They call me the T O K E N guy


    I am the B L A C K guy
    that stands in the back of the line.

  • Dreams and Nightmares

       


    Are we on the air? Hehe. How's everyone been doing? It's been a rough and complicated pass few hours and days. I am starting to feel that feeling that I get this time of year. It's unexplainable but most you that know me.. know the feeling that I am feeling. If that makes sense. I am just sitting back and relaxing because I kind of feel that I might be losing control. Here's the update:


    + I recorded my first episode of the OC from live TV. Yeah! It was awesome, like you'll never know. I've watched the episode 3 times. So yeah, maybe a little too excited.
    + I've gotten three characters and disciplines on Soul Calibur III
    + I will be starting the beer promotion gig next week.. oh yeah! Stoked. Coming to a bar near you (in the PHX metro area.)
    + I've got a new website under my wings but at the moment it's being suspended :( I don't know what's going on? Yahoo! is crazy... and I have to keep it there for a little while longer..because the old owner was slow about giving it to me and .. some detail.. details.. ugh yahta yahta. Love ya Garrry.


    So WHAT'S NEW?


    + * Prayers for Shane*: Shane's mother passed away on Monday morning. My prayers are with him
    + I am getting better with the muscle problem that I've been having lately. Been working out and taking prescribed pain killers. Hopefully I can get up go running in like six months. What a nice thought.. right?
    + Just added some pictures to fotoblog [ link ]


    So yeah. That's my life right so far. I guess. <3.

  • Influential law journal endorses same-sex marriage in N.J.

    Marriage equality for New Jersey gay couples just got a big new endorsement: the influential New Jersey Law Journal.


    As the state's supreme court decides whether to legalize same-sex marriage—a decision is expected within months—the Law Journal published an editorial on Monday stating its support for marriage equality. “On February 15, the New Jersey supreme court heard oral arguments in Lewis v. Harris, a case that will decide whether same-sex couples have a right to marry under the New Jersey constitution,” the editorial read. “We endorse the right of people of the same sex to marry and urge the court to declare that such a right is rooted in our state constitution.”


    With Monday's editorial, the law journal changed its previous position of backing same-sex domestic partnerships but not marriage.“We are aware that the legislature attempted to deal with some of the concerns of same-sex couples through the passage of the Domestic Partnership Act. However, in an amicus brief to the court in Lewis, the State Bar Association commented that existing law falls far short of providing equality in areas that heterosexual couples take for granted,” the editorial stated.


    “Although, the legislature's Domestic Partnership Act may have addressed some of the concerns of same-gender couples, it essentially created a 'separate, but not equal' status for domestic partners that not only failed to provide for equality of rights but also failed to provide many same-sex couples with what they truly seek: dignity. As one of the justices pointed out, '[The plaintiffs] want the respect and respectability of marriage and the stature and status of marriage.' This lack of quality is not only unfair, it is unconstitutional.”


    The New Jersey Law Journal is read by thousands of attorneys, judges, paralegals, and others in the field of law. (Advocate.com)

  • I'm FIERCE!

    4 


    With another Oscar-cast under its belt, Hollywood's A-list boozed and schmoozed into the wee hours of yesterday morning. High in the hills at Soho House L.A., Mike DeLuca, Rick Yorn and Patrick Whitesell hosted their annual "after-after party" for VIPs looking to cut loose after Vanity Fair's tightly scripted to-do at Mortons.

    And let loose they did. "Everyone said I was fat, so I did something about it," slap-happy songbird Mariah Carey blurted to Page Six, seemingly out of nowhere.

    "Here! Feel my thighs! Feel my butt!"

    After several requests, Page Six agreed to fondle her newly firmed physique, and can confirm the absence of unsightly "jelly."

    "See?" Carey said, proudly. "I'll never be a stick woman, but now I'm fierce!"

  • Prejudice claim by £1m-a-year gay banker

    0803petbTHE sacking of a gay senior banker was "inevitable" from the moment a male colleague accused him of inappropriate sexual behaviour in their workplace gym, a tribunal heard yesterday.


    Peter Lewis, who was fired from his job as global head of equity trading for HSBC in the wake of the allegation, is suing the bank for £5 million in a discrimination claim after he was accused of "gross misconduct".


    Mr Lewis's lawyers admitted for the first time yesterday that he had been accused of having "masturbated in the shower cubicle" next to another male HSBC banker, referred to in the hearing as "Mr A".


    Mr Lewis denies the claim and says the only reason he was fired from his £1 million-a-year job last year was because he was gay.


    Chris Quinn, representing Mr Lewis, 45, told the employment tribunal: "[His] case in a nutshell is that, in a workplace where there is apparently no distinction drawn between gay men and 'nonces' in the minds of either human resources or senior management, his dismissal was inevitable from the moment 'A' made allegations against him."


    Mr Lewis said his sexuality had provoked a "considerable amount of interest and comment" in the City, not all of it favourable. He alleged that some members of the financial community felt it was "inappropriate that someone occupying such a senior position should be gay".


    He went on: "Others would make homophobic comments either directly to me or, more usually, behind my back to my manager or colleagues, or their prejudices would surface in other ways.


    "The situation has improved but discrimination and homophobia in the financial services industry has not been eliminated."


    Mr Lewis said he had been working for the French bank Société Générale when he was approached by HSBC in September 2003 and asked to take over its equities division.


    He joined HSBC's head office at Canary Wharf, London, on 13 September, 2004, and immediately became extremely busy.


    But about four weeks after joining, he said he began to receive "threatening and abusive" calls at home and on his mobile phone from a man who called him a "faggot". Mr Lewis guessed the caller was a fellow HSBC employee because his contact details had been widely circulated within the company and the man knew his position.


    His partner reported the calls to BT and Mr Lewis told HSBC's human resources department about them, but the bank allegedly took no action, the tribunal was told.


    On the evening of 4 November, 2004, Mr Lewis went to the health club at his workplace and spent 90 minutes going through an exercise routine in the gym before returning to the men's changing rooms.


    While he was getting changed, he alleges that a man he did not know came up and said to him: "Your face looks familiar. Just tell me your f****** name."


    Mr Lewis said in his statement: "As a gay man, I am aware that my sexuality can provoke hostile reactions from people.


    "I just wanted him to go away. I therefore gave him a name which was not mine and which I made up on the spot."


    He did not report the conversation, but five days later he was called to an urgent meeting with the bank's human resources department and told there had been a complaint "of a sensitive nature" made against him. He said he was "completely shocked, aghast and upset" when he was told the allegation was he had ogled Mr A before masturbating in the shower next to him.


    He said: "The implication was that I had been 'coming on' to someone in the changing rooms.


    "However, I was, and still am, in a very happy, stable, long-term relationship which has lasted ten years. I had no need or desire to behave in such a way."


    Mr Lewis denied all the allegations against him, but he was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing and dismissed on 9 December, 2004. He appealed against the decision but was not successful.


    He said: "I did nothing whatsoever to provoke or encourage in any way the false and harmful allegations that have been made against me.


    "I did nothing to deserve the treatment that was handed out to me that did not meet even the bare minimum standards of fairness, objectivity and natural justice. It was prejudiced and biased against me from the very first day because I am gay."


    HSBC has said that it "utterly rejects the allegations of discrimination" and will "vigorously defend" its actions. Bank staff had investigated the claims against Mr Lewis and decided to dismiss him.


    The tribunal continues.


    Related topic



    This article: http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=348802006


    Last updated: 08-Mar-06 00:58 GMT


  • No One | Written by P.A. Jervis, Jr.

    I don't think that anyone
    Anyone that ever mattered
    To me
    Ever reads these poems
    These thoughts that I so frantically
    Spill into the inks that splurges all over the paper


    Anyone that ever mattered
    To me
    Has gone on and living their own lives
    Running and functioning
    As if I never was there
    But I am sure they never think of me


    To me
    It seems like the world is passing me by
    And no one is there to support me
    Except for the holy being
    And I am so mentally shorted that I only turn to that being when
    Emergencies knock down my door and blast me in the heart


    These poems
    Are rage and blast of emotion and high voltage remarks
    That no one cares for and dares to read in their spare time
    As I sit pondering and wondering
    What the anyones that ever mattered
    To me
    Are doing with their lives

  • Glam and Shine

     smilefeb03


    How's life? It's all good here, I guess. I am feeling good. So I am deciding to update you and let you know what's going on in my life. I know that you are totally interested and stuff. LOL. I survived working overnights. Yay! Hehe. Let's further update you on the things that I mentioned the last time:


    + I redecored my room with some stuff. It looks like a little living room. I'll put some pictures up when I get a chance. Hehe.
    + I haven't been back to IKEA.
    + Missing JP and a lot of others. I working my ass off all the time I never get to see people. Gross.
    + Been playing Soul Calibur III like a lot and stuff. Getting more characters and weapons. (I am such a nerd.)
    + I figured out how to make the DVD recorder work. I am so going to have to learn how to record shows and stuff so I can get the OC, American Idol and other stuff recorded. Awesome! OH yeah!
    + Got the modeling gig for the beer promotion YAY! I made an awesome cool friend there.
    + Got my old host cancelled and moved over to Paraflux. I am excited! Scott is awesome!
        >> Benji now has a site at: http://www.bhayesonline.com
        >> My site has been update and uploaded. No new layout until I figure out how to get a computer.
        >> Club.Mimi (http://www.clubmimi.net) is doing well
        >> Looking for a site or anything leave me comments with your name and email addie and I'll get right back to you.


    What's new?


    + I start beer promo on 22nd of March
    + I am going to Blythe to get my CA ID because my mommy won't send me BC and SSC so I can get a new one in AZ.
    + I got another invite to go in for a casting call. Did you know you could find modeling jobs on CareerBuilder.com and stuff. It's freakin' awesome.
    + *Prayers of Gabe* There's a kid (14-year old) that customer told me about. He's in a Diabetic Coma. So if you would like to give your blessings to him and pray he does okay and gets better...please do.
    + Going to start going to church again.. possibly.