Str8-acting seeks dude with killer wheels.

If I ever had any doubts about whether Las Vegans would turn out for gay Pride, they were allayed on Saturday at Pride Festival, which fell the day after their nighttime Pride Parade (sound familiar, Houston?). Dozens of booths, several live concerts and hundreds, even thousands of visitors — all very graciously and sincerely wish you “Happy Pride.” And perhaps the oddest aspect of it? This pay-to-attend event seemed to be peopled by a fair number of straights who just came out for the food, drink, music and fun. And it’s so far away from the Strip, you wouldn’t even know you were in Nevada.

When you’re traveling, you often forget a few items, and the minibar becomes a salvation. So it is not surprising in Vegas that, for $12, you can purchase a “rescue kit” at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino. Contents include one aspirin, one ibuprofen, one antacid…. and two condoms. After all, he might turn your stomach, he might give you a headache, but that’s no reason you can’t do him. Twice.

How can you tell that Vegas has become so gay-aware? Because almost everyone — even the straight men — don’t dress like slobs anymore.

You don’t even need to dress nicely to fit in here; you only have to dress well.  Do men wear flip-flops, T-shirts and board shorts, even when seeing shows or dining in three-star restaurants? Certainly. But the tees are vintage or bedazzled with the word “Armani,” the shoes besole pedicured feet, the shorts look pressed and tailored, not as if they were in a ball at the bottom of a suitcase 10 minutes before.  It’s getting so you can’t tell the gays from the straights … which, for some guys, is half the fun.

Circuit Notebook

Are circuit parties dead? Kind of.

Even Jeffrey Sanker knows that smart promoters need to distance themselves from such a passé term. The White Party Palm Springs steers itself as a “spring break” weekend vacation. And from the looks of it, the White Party is alive and going strong. From April 18-21, eight parties were strung together in the gorgeous resort town east of Los Angeles.
It’s not a get-together that attracts mid-term queer collegians — because the tickets for these parties are pretty steep. However at the White Party, youth has nothing to do with beauty. Attendance records are reported in the umpteen thousands, but the numbers of drop-dead gorgeous A-listers who attend is utterly staggering.
Instead of a all-out-sex buffet, the vibe is more “see and be seen,” and there’s a large population of Los Angelinos muscle gods. On top of that, almost every queer celeb from Southern California were making the rounds: Reichen, Alex Mapa, Wilson Cruz, David “Color Splash” Bromstad and JD Jordan, the new massage therapist from “Work Out.”

TRANSEXUALS, ATTITUDE AND SUNBURNS … Read the rest of this entry »

On April 25, Youth First Texas, GLSEN Dallas and dozens of other community organizations hosted the first-ever Breaking The Silence rally at Reverchon Park. The rally marked the end of the National Day of Silence, the annual event designed to draw attention to anti-gay bullying in schools.

Locally, the rally seems to be evidence that the LGBT youth movement has picked up steam in the wake of the February shooting death of 15-year-old Lawrence King in California. I think some of it also has to do with the arrival of Judith Dumont at Youth First Texas and Beau Heyen at GLSEN Dallas and the Cathedral of Hope. Of course, that’s not to take anything away from those who’ve dedicated their lives to this area for years.

Anyhow, above is one of the photos from the rally that Dumont sent over. It comes from the Flickr page of Kalan Briggs, a local youth who’s a much better photographer than I ever will be. To see more of Kalan’s photos from the rally, go here.

Also, here’s a link to a story about the rally from the EDGE Dallas Web site by Renee Baker, a Youth First board member.

Seems as though the Human Rights Campaign can’t do anything right these days, at least not in the eyes of some. As the fallout over the organization’s support for a noninclusive version of ENDA continues, HRC released its list of endorsements for U.S. Senate races this week. Needless to say, not everyone is happy. HRC responded to some of the criticisms yesterday on its blog, Back Story.

Given that North Texas is such an HRC stronghold, I was curious whether anyone had any thoughts.

UPDATE: Former Washington Blade Editor Chris Crain today urges HRC to “grow a pair.” Like others, Crain takes issue with HRC’s failure to endorse openly gay Senate candidate Jim Neal in North Carolina. Crain accuses HRC of cow-towing to Democratic Party “chieftains” who support Neal’s opponent and trying to protect its win-loss record in endorsed races. There’s something to be said for not wasting money on candidates who have no chance of being elected. But if you only endorse candidates who are going to win anyway, what’s the point? In any case, I would argue that the win-loss record issue may be factor in HRC’s failure (so far) to endorse Rick Noriega for Senate in Texas against incumbent John Cornyn.

See how Meredith is in the moderator’s chair? This was taped before O’Donnell officially became a panelist.

It looks like Carly Simon may have just come out.

In an article published online Thursday by the Bay Area Reporter in which Simon is promoting her new album, “This Kind of Love,” reporter Gregg Shapiro asks Simon if she would consider participating in Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors tour this summer that raises money for LGBT rights organizations.

Simon replied that while it would be hard for to commit to a tour because she is so busy, she would have no problem “singing on behalf of all of us. I don’t consider myself not to be gay.”

Then when Shapiro said it was “great to have [her] as part of the family,” Simon said: “Thank you! I mean, I’ve enlarged all of my possibilities. There are a lot of extremely personal stories to tell about that, but we
won’t go into that right now. Let’s just say that it just depends upon who I’m with.”

Well Carly, let me join Gregg in welcoming you into the family. And good luck with the new album.

So, with Las Vegas already among the most popular destinations for GLBT travelers, how can you tell when it’s Pride Weekend on the Strip?

Good question.

Truth is, Vegas has been inching toward inclusiveness for years. Funny that, of all the Broadway-style musicals to open here in the last eight or nine years, one — the camp hit “Mamma Mia!” which plays at the luxurious Mandalay Bay — has been the only true hit.

One possible reason: Shirtless guys cavorting on a Greek isle. Yes, if Vegas is, once and forever, home to the sexy showgirl, it now also includes the hot showboy. Equal opportunity ogling — it’s the American way.

Credit the many Cirque du Soleil shows with some of that. At the long-running “O” at the Bellagio, which I saw last night, muscular men in Speedos and clingy wet costumes (which themselves are imprinted with designs to highlight their physiques) outstrip (so to speak) the women in a show that gives new meaning to the term “water ballet.”

More to come…