Last week I mentioned in this post that I had sent gay Dallas superdelegate and media darling David Hardt an e-mail asking whether he was any closer to committing in the wake of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries. This morning I received Hardt’s response, in which he says he’s still uncommitted and goes “back and forth on this every day.” Hardt also says he’s loyal to the Clintons because of what they’ve done for the Democratic Party and believes Clinton would be more electable. But he says he doesn’t know how any superdelegate could support Clinton if Obama wins both the pledged delegate count and the popular vote. Finally, Hardt promises that when he commits, he’ll call Dallas Voice first. Thanks, David. An excerpt from his e-mail is after the jump.

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When he was asked to turn off his phone, it was reported that Jones said, “Kiss my [we’re guessing ‘ass’].”

Jones said the call was a matter of life or death.

Among those in Crawford on Saturday for first daughter Jenna Bush’s wedding were a handful of protesters from the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. The Waco Tribune Herald reports:

They gathered on the road leading to the ranch, waving signs that read “God is your enemy, America is doomed,” “Pro-gay Bush” and “Not blessed, just cursed,” and sang fractured versions of songs religious and patriotic, including the Marine theme, “From the Halls of Montezuma.”

Rachel Hockenbarger, 42, one of the Westboro Baptist Church protesters, at one point quoted a Bible verse about “odious women,” then blasted President Bush for raising Jenna to be tolerant of gay people.

But others also got their say in. Thomas Miller, 18, a self-described “counterprotester” from Waco’s Lake Shore Baptist Church, stood across the street with his own sign: “For God so loved the world.”

And a number of neighborhood children hastily put together a tongue-in-cheek sign lampooning the Kansas protesters: “These people are gay.”

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Wright, Sen. Barack Obama’s controversial former pastor, led the denomination’s largest congregation, Trinity UCC in Chicago. The UCC’s fourth-largest congregation is Dallas’ Cathedral of Hope, which also gets a mention in the article. The fact that the Cathedral — the nation’s largest gay and lesbian church — recently became affiliated with UCC is given as an example of how radically progressive the denomination is.

But ultimately the author suggests that UCC’s leadership may be too liberal:

“In the meantime, just as leaders of evangelical churches tend to be more politically conservative than most people in their pews, so the leaders of the UCC will probably continue to be to the left of most of their flocks. And that may only contribute to the view, particularly among younger Christians who are leaving both mainline and evangelical churches, that overtly ideological leadership is one of the weaknesses of contemporary institutional Christianity.”

While we’re on the subject, I noticed over on the Rev. Mike Piazza’s blog that he says he didn’t vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton. One can only assume this means Piazza, dean of the Cathedral, voted for Obama. Correct me if I’m wrong, Mike.

While my wife waited to check out, I headed over to the snack counter to get us some soft drinks. I was on my way back to the check-out line, drinks in hand, when I heard someone scream, and then heard someone else shout “Call 9-1-1!”

I turned to look and saw, about halfway between where I stood and the exit door, the two women who had checked out just before us. The mother had collapsed, and the daughter was kneeling beside her, cradling her mother’s body against her chest.

I stood there for long seconds of time, stunned and frozen. And then I realized: No one is going to help. (more…)

Fellas, if you got some faghags who like to throw down, make them be your date for a night at Master Blaster Ladies Club.

Right off of I-35 at Commonwealth, this dick-dancing establishment is a lavish hoot. Every guy must have a female companion. I recently attended with two cool gals. They got in for free, I paid an $8 cover. It was a Friday night, and the place was jam-packed. Expect to valet your car ($5) because you won’t be able to find a parking spot on your own.

The joint is pretty swanky. Customers are seated at tables, and the boys are scattered on risers throught the club. There’s also a mainstage. At one point, I counted at least a dozen men dancing at once. They floor hump and shake groove thangs in G-strings and banana hammocks. From the DJ booth, an obnoxious emcee talks — a lot — to keep vibe pumped up.

On the mainstage, the boys do routines. Sometimes they even lip-synch. The women regulars fawn and treat them like rockstars. And when it comes to tips, these boys do exceptionally well!

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So perhaps it wasn’t a surprise when a box-office worker at the opera had the following exchange with a patron:

Patron: “Now, George and Lennie — they aren’t gay, are they?”

Employee: “No, ma’am, they’re not gay.”

Patron: “They why do they live on a farm together?”

Good question. And if you ask me, George and Lennie are gay — I even said as much in my review a few years ago of the Dallas Theater Center’s production of the tale —then-artistic director Richard Hamburger even called me after the piece ran to discuss the homoerotic undertones in the story.

Consider: they do talk a lot about living together in a one-room farmhouse and they are always in each others’ company. You could make a case that they were the original “Brokeback Mountain” duo. 

So what does it mean when the FWO, even accidentally, has two gay productions in one season?

‘Bout time is all I have to say. 

Marco Rodriguez is a tease.

 For a number of months now, the local playwright and actor has been telling me he had something “big” in the wings, but try as I might, he wouldn’t spill the beans. (He said even his boyfriend didn’t know what it was.) All I knew was that (a) it had to do with his most recent play, “Heaven Forbid(s)!” being (b) staged somewhere other than Dallas. 

So today, he finally ‘fessed up: “Heaven,” in which Marco and Rhianna Mack cross-dress to play a variety of character in purgatory, has been selected from among more than 1,000 entries to play at the New York International Fringe Festival in New York. If you don’t already know or can’t guess, whenever you say “New York” and “play” in the same sentence it’s a pretty big deal. And this is a very big deal.

But, as with almost every independent theater operation, Rodriguez needs money to do. So, he’s asking for contributions. If you wanna help out, try calling his ticket line at 214-750-7435. Or you can even write to me and I’ll forward along his e-mail. I’ll do in despite the fact that Marco didn’t even bother to offer me an exclusive. Congrats anyway, Marco! 

I sent gay Dallas Democratic superdelegate David Hardt an e-mail yesterday, asking whether he planned to commit in the wake of Tuesday’s primaries, which essentially sealed the nomination for Obama. Hardt didn’t respond. Maybe he’s still miffed about this post in which I said that just because he’s uncommitted doesn’t mean he’s undecided. That’s why they invented the term “undeclared.” Or maybe he just hasn’t checked his e-mail. In any case, Hardt was quoted in The Dallas Morning News today. Turns out, he’s still undeclared, but he had this to say: “The healing process is already beginning. No matter what happens, Hillary Clinton will do the right thing.”

Also, I didn’t realize this until recently, but we actually have another gay superdelegate here in Texas. Superdelegate Sue Lovell (pictured above), a Houston city councilwoman, is a member of the Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Steering Committee for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That gives Texas two of the 20 gay superdelegates nationwide. Not bad! You can read more about Lovell and Hardt on the Huffington Post Web site here.

Speaking of the HuffPo, here’s this morning’s headline: “Obamamania is back.” Did it ever really go away?

“They were literally playing in white jerseys with electrical tape put on to create numbers,” Jonathan Palant, the artistic director of the Turtle Creek Chorale, told me.

Members of the chorale didn’t like that, so they raised some money and have bought YFT some high-quality jerseys and equipment for the young people. There will be a presentation ceremony tomorrow, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Youth First Texas offices.