Same-sex couples calling N.J. civil union law unfair
Actor atones for anti-gay slur with PSA on tolerance
LOS ANGELES “Grey’s Anatomy” star Isaiah Washington, making amends for his use of an anti-gay slur, cautions in a public service announcement that “words have power” to hurt or heal.
Washington’s filmed message, which was to begin airing Thursday night during reruns of his ABC show, stemmed from a January meeting with officials from the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, GLSEN, and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD.
The actor provoked a furor by using the epithet backstage at the Golden Globe Awards in January while denying he had used it previously against castmate T.R. Knight.
Washington’s “willingness to do something to address the hurt and harm he may have caused has to be respected,” said Eliza Byard, GLSEN deputy executive director. “Millions of people who might not have thought about the impact of this language may take a moment to reflect upon it.”
In his meeting with the civil rights groups, Washington apologized and agreed to help fight bias against those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, the groups said.
His public service announcement, produced by ABC, urges tolerance for all.
“Words have power. The power to express love, happiness and joy. They also have the power to heal,” Washington says in the message. “When you use words that demean a person because of their sexual orientation, race or gender, you send a message of hate. … We have the power to heal and change the world by the words we use.”
The actor’s future with “Grey’s Anatomy” is uncertain.
In the season finale, his character, Dr. Preston Burke, was seen calling off his wedding and moving out of his fiancee’s apartment.
A spokesman for Washington has expressed confidence that the actor will return to the show, but ABC said contract negotiations are as yet unresolved.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
GOP presidential candidate Romney: I am not anti gay
Soundout
5 questions with David Hearn
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David Hearn is treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Greg Dollgener Memorial AIDS Fund. GDMAF will be hosting it’s semi-annual fundraiser, MetroBall, on June 9 from 5 to 10 p.m. The event will feature DJ Taylor TOT, dancers and a raffle for a 32-inch flat screen LCD TV. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. To find out more, visit www.gdmaf.org.
Tell me about GDMAF.
It’s a nonprofit organization. We’ve been in existence now for 11 years. We are a very small organization, just 11 board members, so we work through other AIDS agencies and help supplement them.
How do you do that?
Like last week, we helped a person whose car broke down, and we were the only way to help get their car repaired and help get them to the doctor to stay healthy. The organization that normally helps this person couldn’t afford to, and that is where we step in.
How many people do you help out each year?
Well, we now have a mailing list and donor group of more than 500 people, so we are averaging helping about 150 each year, with about $400 going to each person. Our niche is to help people with emergency needs after they have exhausted all other ways. The number of people out there who need that is always growing, so we would love to help more if we could. We have to make the world better today, and this is one small way we can do that.
What should people know about Greg?
He was originally from Tyler, Texas, and he moved to Dallas in 1988, and that is when I met him.We were partners for 4 1/2 years before he died in 1994. He told me up front that he is HIV-positive. I am still not at this point, but during that time, we would throw parties to help raise awareness and money. He was a fighter until the very end. He would talk to kids at school and tell them they don’t want to end up like him and such.
How will MetroBall help remember him?
It is basically a benefit for him. The two of us used to plan parties at our house, but it doesn’t have much room for dancing. So we are moving it. But Greg’s presence will still be there for me. It’s very personal. It just brings back all of the good times, and obviously, this event and this fund are one of the few good things that came out of such a tragic disease. Most importantly it is bringing together a lot of people who knew and loved him, so that we can do some good in the world, like he would have wanted.
Soundout is a weekly column featuring people whose jobs and interests have an impact on the daily lives of members of the LGBT community. It features those who often go unnoticed bythe press and community. If you’d like to recommend someone to cover in this column, contact staff writer Ben Briscoe at briscoe@dallasvoice.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
Query of the Week
With QCinema this weekend – What’s your favorite LGBT themed movie?
“It has to be “‘Broken Hearts Club.’ That story just hits so close to home because his father died before he came out, just like me.”
Parker Weatam
Self-Employed
“I like “‘Boys Don’t Cry.’ The whole thing is great, and it really tugs at your emotions.”
Mimarna Munoc
Cashier
“”‘Sorted Lives,’ for sure. It’s everything like a true Texas gay family really is. Plus it’s so quotable.”
Adam Martinez
Physical therapist
“That’s a hard one. But I pick “‘Gia.’ Angelina Jolie is great in it, and it makes you think about the problems that face our community.”
Candace Cano
Hairstylist
“Easy question. “‘Latter Days.’ Hands down. It had a very nice love story, and that was something I was longing to feel at the time I first watched it.”
Jobbi Guajardo
Retail Manager
Have a suggestion for a question you’d like us to ask? E-mail it to staff writer Ben Briscoe at briscoe@dallasvoice.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
Pet of the Week
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Sofie, left, and Sasha are 12-week-old gray-and-white littermates. June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month, and this precious pair would be perfect additions to any home. They were raised with their mom in a foster home and are friendly, loving and good with other cats. They are negative for FeLV and FIV.
Dogs, cats, puppies and kittens are available for adoption from Operation Kindness, 3201 Earhart Drive (near Keller Springs Road and Midway Road), Carrollton. The no-kill shelter is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (until 8 p.m. Thursday) and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Cost to adopt is $110 for cats and kittens and $135 for dogs and puppies. The cost includes spay or neuter surgery, microchipping, vaccinations and other tests. Those 65 and above and those who adopt two pets at the same time get a $20 discount. For more information call 972-418-PAWS, or visit www.operationkindness.org.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
President Bush calls for increased funding of Global AIDS Initiative
Critics claim president continues to place ideology ahead of science by demanding one-third of funding go to abstinence education
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| President Bush |
President Bush called on Congress on Wednesday, May 30, to double funding toward fighting the global AIDS pandemic to $30 billion through the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for the first five years after he leaves office.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, criticized the president’s program because it requires 33 percent of prevention funding to be designated for abstinence education.
“Twenty-six years after the first reported AIDS case in the U.S., HIV and AIDS continues to devastate communities both at home and abroad, and our nation’s leadership must harness all possible resources to confront the epidemic,” Solmonese said. “Though the PEPFAR program has provided life-saving treatment for millions of people with HIV/AIDS worldwide, we continue to have grave concerns over the misguided restrictions on prevention funding. Our nation’s experts agree that the abstinence earmark only exacerbates the challenges in providing effective and culturally appropriate prevention messages to stem the transmission of the epidemic. We urge congress to lift these restrictions based purely on ideology and instead fund proven science-based prevention strategies.”
Current law requires one-third of prevention funding through PEPFAR exclusively teach abstinence until marriage.
A report from the General Accountability Office revealed that 17 of the 20 countries surveyed noted the abstinence earmark hindered their efforts to fight the epidemic. The report also indicated that the abstinence earmark had forced many of the countries to cut funding for prevention efforts to those most at risk, including programs designed to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child.
The Institute of Medicine has also criticized the abstinence earmark and the program’s ban on funding needle exchange programs.
Representatives Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, and Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut, this year introduced the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act of 2007. It would eliminate the abstinence earmark in PEPFAR.
President Bush first announced his plans to create PEPFAR, a five-year, $15 billion plan to combat AIDS worldwide during his 2003 State of the Union Address. PEPFAR funds various HIV/AIDS programs that provide access to antiretroviral drugs, treatment and prevention in 15 focus countries in addition to other countries hit hard by the AIDS pandemic.
The program is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2008.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
Utah Mormon LGBT support group marks 30 years service
SALT LAKE CITY When as a teenager Connell O’Donovan told his Mormon seminary teacher he was gay, he was greeted with kindness and a prescription to chart the frequency of his sexual thoughts; fasting and praying when the urges came as a means of willing them away.
`”He didn’t know what to do,” O’Donovon said of his teacher, who is now a church elder. “He was a super nice guy, but just misinformed and all he had was the church handbook to go by.”
Raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, O’Donovan, a writer and historian, served a church mission and married in the church’s Salt Lake City Temple. He came out in 1985 and eventually left the faith, unable to reconcile his intrinsic gay identity with the teachings of the church.
“I had to throw the baby out with the bath water. I started from scratch and rebuilt myself,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press last week. “I decided that I can use the word grace, but in a different way.”
On Sunday, O’Donovan, 43, gave the keynote address at the 30th anniversary of Affirmation, a support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Mormons in Salt Lake City.
Founded in Provo by a handful of students from the church-owned Brigham Young University, Affirmation grew out of concern over the increasing number of suicides among gay Mormons and from the frustration of living a closeted life. Today, the group, which is not recognized by or connected to the church, has chapters across the United States, in Australia, Canada, England, Italy and South Korea.
For many, Affirmation is the first place they connect with other gay Mormons.
“They helped me through in the beginning,” said Buckley Jeppson, 48, a gay Mormon who lives in Washington, D.C. “That was useful. It was the first time I actually knew I wasn’t the only person out there. It’s comforting.”
Officially, the Mormon church has taught that homosexuality is a sin and that traditional marriage is an institution ordained by God. In the 1990s, church elders modified that position to differentiate between homosexual feelings or inclinations same-gender attraction as they call it and homosexual activity.
The church teaches that yielding to the temptation is the sin, according to church leaders.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
Celebrity Watch
“‘The View’ goes on without Rosie
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is trying to patch things up with Rosie O’Donnell, her former co-host on ABC’s “The View,” after last week’s on-air spat.
On Tuesday, May 29′s show, Hasselbeck said she and O’Donnell were “in communication a lot,” though Hasselbeck didn’t say whether they had talked on the phone or exchanged e-mails. Their confrontation last Wednesday led to O’Donnell’s early departure from the daytime chatfest.
“This weekend gave us the opportunity to tackle our most important Hot Topic yet, and that was the power of forgiveness, and I believe that we’ve begun that process,” Hasselbeck said. “And so now that enables us to move on in a very positive way. … I’m really happy about that.”
Show creator and co-host Barbara Walters said Tuesday she had been sending e-mails to O’Donnell and they remain “close friends.” Walters also said O’Donnell is welcome back to “The View” as a panelist at anytime.
The argument between Hasselbeck and O’Donnell began over O’Donnell’s earlier statement about the war: “655,000 Iraqi civilians had died. Who are the terrorists?”
Talk-show critics accused O’Donnell of calling U.S. troops terrorists. She called Hasselbeck “cowardly” for not saying anything in response to the critics, which set off their lengthy argument.
On May 25, ABC said O’Donnell asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract. O’Donnell said last month she would be leaving because she couldn’t agree to a new contract with ABC executives.
In a video blog posted Saturday, May 26 on her Web site, O’Donnell said she didn’t think she and Hasselbeck would ever speak again.
“I haven’t spoken to her, and I probably won’t, and I think it’s just as well,” O’Donnell said. “I wrote her an e-mail, and she wrote me back, and there you have it.”
O’Donnell also said she never really fit in on the show.
Adam Sandler’s “‘Gay Robot’ gets animated on Comedy Central
One of the funniest TV pilots that never actually made it to TV is “Gay Robot”, a sitcom about straight fraternity brothers and their friend, a rainbow-flag waving, guy-chasing robot. (His inventor accidentally spilled a wine cooler on his circuit board you know how these things happen.)
Even with the clout of Adam Sandler behind it “Gay Robot” was a song on one of his comedy CDs – the pilot didn’t get picked up, although it has amassed a fervent following on MySpace and other Web sites. But all is not lost Sandler’s production company has gone back to the drawing board and is developing “Gay Robot” as an animated series for Comedy Central.
No word yet as to when the new cartoon version might premiere on the network, but expect lots of sarcastic android bleeps when it finally happens.
Lance Bass gets reality TV show on Logo
Music stars as diverse as Jessica Simpson and Ozzy Osbourne have seen their careers boosted by starring in their own reality shows, and now a gay superstar is following in their footsteps.
Former ‘N Sync member Lance Bass, who notably came out last year, is working with the Logo network on a reality show of his very own.
(Bass’ last encounter with reality TV was his relationship with “Amazing Race” winner Reichen Lehmkuhl.)
Logo is part of the MTV Networks family, and gay network exec Brian Graden, a key player behind “Newlyweds” and “The Osbournes,” will be involved in putting the show together.
No date set for Bass’ show, so we’ll have to wait and see if the singer develops a trademark along the lines of confusing chicken with tuna or chucking canned hams over a fence.
Harrelson stars as gay “‘walker;’ Schrader begins Holocaust drama
Director Paul Schrader will be in theaters next with “The Walker,” which stars Woody Harrelson as a gay “walker” for Washington, D.C., society ladies at gala functions.
And for his next project, Schrader will team up with legendary gay actor Sir Derek Jacobi for the Holocaust drama “Adam Resurrected.”
The gritty film, which also stars Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe, is based on the novel by Yoram Kaniuk, and tells the story of a circus performer in a concentration camp whose life is spared so he can entertain Jews on their way to the gas chambers.
(Wait isn’t this the plot of Jerry Lewis’ infamous, never-released “The Day the Clown Cried?”)
Shooting began in April, so don’t be surprised to see “Adam” in theaters before the end of the year.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
Radical Christian right launches export of homophobia to Europe
Anti-gay Poland is venue for gathering focused on “‘natural families;’
assistant secretary of state brings greetings from President Bush
No longer content with the obscene political and monetary profits they realize in the United States, the radical Christian right is now exporting its No. 1 product homophobia to Europe.
A few thousand zealots from the U.S. and other countries converged on Warsaw, Poland’s Palace of Culture and Science in mid-May for the World Congress of Families, a gathering that focused on “natural families.”
“Natural families”?
Just more spin another euphemism for degrading LGBT families. These folks only consider assembly-line-produced families using eggs and sperm introduced to one another through that old heterosexual standby, the missionary position, engaged in by a married, heterosexual couple to be the real thing when it comes to producing progeny.
How hateful of our kids and our families. But let’s face it hate is all these folks know, even though they couch it all in “Jesus’ love.”
The usual cast of radical Christian right characters was on hand for this particular love-to-hate fest. James Dobson from Focus on the Family was joined by folks from the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation and the Discovery Institute (which isn’t about designing good, intelligent TV programs, but instead about programming youth to believe in intelligent design).
The World Congress was organized by a group I hadn’t heard of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society, whose president, Allan Carlson, declared: “The cultural battle has gone international. The American religious right, instead of being isolationist, has in fact gone global.”
Oh, joy. But what about their destination? Why Poland? Why not Rome, to be near their buddy, the pope? Or Nigeria, where Archbishop Peter Akinola is masterminding a homophobic schism within the Anglican Church?
Nope, they chose Poland because of its state-sponsored homophobia. I’m not talking about the run-of-the-mill “we won’t pass a pro-bill gay bill if our lives depended on it” homophobia. This is a government that bans Pride celebrations, speaks openly about purging “homosexual propaganda” from the country, refuses to recognize the rights of lesbians and gays, and is now considering a bill that would make it illegal for any teacher in any classroom, public or private, to discuss homosexuality, LGBT rights, or safe-sex practices.
The bill would bar LGBT organizations from schools, and lesbian or gay teachers who come out would automatically be fired.
This is a government that does nothing to stop skinheads and other nationalistic groups from targeting its LGBT citizens. This is a government that is tailor-made to be the only elected Western European ally of America’s radical Christian right.
So what came out of this love-to-hate fest?
Poland’s education minister, Roman Giertych, a leader in the country’s right-wing League of Polish Families party who also happens to be a Deputy Prime Minister became the politico celebre as he told the group that combating the “propagation of homosexuality” was just “something I have to do.” His remarks were echoed by Polish President Lech Kaczynski
Rallying around the homophobic flagpole, World Congress participants cheered at the news that the Polish government would not be cowed by the European Union, which has warned Poland that its anti-gay policies might cost the country its voting rights.
They listened to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey bring greetings from W and thank the Howard Center “for all of their hard work in organizing this wonderful opportunity to celebrate and reflect upon the family and its vital role in society.”
No question that the current administration stands firmly alongside homophobic repression.
They heard Ben Bull of the Alliance Defense Fund say, “Marriage will be destroyed by making all relationships equal,” and Brigham Young law professor Lynn Wardle chime in with, “Legalizing same-sex marriage will drain marriage of its social meaning.”
They also came together to embrace the “natural family manifesto.” I think it’s kind of funny that a gathering in a former Communist country attended by those who hate Communism would support something called a “manifesto.”
But yes, there is a manifesto. It encourages mothers to stay home and have many children. It fervently opposes LGBT people and abortion in a single breath.
“It is not enough to stop public recognition of “‘gay marriage,’ nor to oppose “‘safe-sex education’ in the public schools, nor to ban partial-birth abortion, nor to create “‘covenant’ marriages. Victory for the natural family will come only as we change the terms of the debate.”
If changing the terms of debate means the wholesale exporting of hate, they’re off to a good start. I just wish folks would stop buying it here in the States. An endnote of worth: While all this homophobia is defining Poland to the LGBT world, Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz Walz defied the country’s president and ultra-right-wing organizations by allowing a Pride parade May 19. Some 5,000 marched amid bystanders who waved and were generally supportive.
Libby Post is a political commentator. She can be reached at lesbiannotions@qsyndicate.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 1, 2007.
