This probably has made the rounds, but a friend sent me this and it was too funny not to share … especially because I have no doubt they are all true. Thanks NBC sports team for talking too much!

1. Weight-lifting commentator: “This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing.”

2. Dressage commentator: “This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.”

3. Paul Hamm, gymnast: “I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.”

4. Boxing analyst: “Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious.”

5. Softball announcer: “If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.”

6. Basketball analyst: “He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn’t like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces.”

7. At the rowing medal ceremony: “Ah, isn’t that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew.”

8. Soccer commentator: “Julian Dicks i s everywhere. It’s like they’ve got eleven Dicks on the field.”

9. Tennis commentator: “One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them… Oh my God, what have I just said?”

While Manchester is The Smiths and Morrissey’s boyhood stomping grounds, the city’s queer vibe was always lyrically represented as a miserable place — especially for queers.

Not anymore.

Completed in 1887, Manchester Town Hall, above, is an impressive neo-Gothic building in Albert Sqaure. It houses the city and government function.s  And during the Pride festival, the flag proudly flaps in the wind. Read the rest of this entry »

Freelance reporter Lisa Keen is in Denver this week to cover the Democratic National Convention. She will be sending Dallas Voice regular reports from the convention, and those reports will be post on the Voice’s home page. Be sure to check in each day to see what’s happening with the Democrats.

Finally, a guy wins gold in the water whose name isn’t “Phelps” … but who certainly had gay guys cheering. And he’s not even an American.

Matthew Mitcham, the openly gay Australian diver, thwarted China’s hopes of complete domination in all diving medal sports by surpassing the Chinese contingent in the 10 m platform event. 

Mitcham was a recent cover boy for the gay newsmagazine The Advocate, where he resisted being hyped as the next Greg Louganis. But for now at least, he doesn’t have a choice. 

Howdy, y’all.

Roving reporter Daniel A. Kusner in Northwest U.K. this weekend. It’s Manchester’s 18th Pride celebration.

Earlier this afternoon, their parade passed near the Town Hall. About 44,000 attendees are expected during the 10-day festival. I don’t believe they are fudging the numbers. The crowds are overwhelming. Even Lord Mayor Mavis Smitheman with her purple-dyed hair gave her blessing while the 84 outrageous, poignant and breathtaking (203 police officers, plus a 40-member marching band) floats made their way down the city center.
Read the rest of this entry »

So after a long week Obama has finally announced Joe Biden as his VP pick. Biden is senator for Delaware with a decent LGBT record. On the most recent Human Rights Campaign scorecard he got a 78 percent. He voted yes on hate crimes and yes on ENDA, and he supports repealing DADT.
The big question is whether Biden supports same-sex marriage. In 1996, he supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman. But his tune has changed. He supports states’ right to decide between civil unions and marriage, but he supports equal rights and federal benefits for same-sex couples.
Another interesting note, when Biden was running in the primaries against Obama, he was the only candidate invited who did not take part in Logo’s debate on LGBT issues. He said he had a scheduling conflict.
I’ve included something I think is interesting below. When I was in Iowa covering the caucus there was something called a second chance vote. In order to get one of the nine delegates in our precinct, a candidate had to get 74 supporters. Bidden only got 21, a number very close to what Edwards and Richardson needed to get a delegate. Below is behind-closed-doors video of the discussion over who Biden backers should support instead. The politics involved here amazed me. Not once did they really consider Obama. In the end, they all went on to support Hillary.

The same week when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV announce buyouts and cutbacks comes this rather salacious teaser on the blogosphere: “‘Harry’ strips for magazine.” The full story? Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe appears semi-nude in a photo layout in Vogue.

Scandalous, right? Hardly. 

Despite what the Internet naboobs would have you believe, Radcliffe is hardly bouncing his teen junk around for the creepy porn lovers. Indeed, the picture is quite tasteful, as you can see below. But completely missing from the headline — and the subhead, which offers an equally puritanical sniff: “At least Leibovitz picked someone older,” a reference to the fact queer lenser Annie also shot Miley Cyrus sans vetements recently — is the context. See, Radcliffe will be on Broadway in a few weeks opening the revival of the play “Equus,” which features nudity onstage by the 19-year-old actor.

This is old hat for anyone who saw these pictures last year, when the show opened in London’s West End. But that hasn’t stopped many posts I’ve read of uninformed hens who cluck away that it’s disgusting for a “child star” (who is, we should mention, not only “legal” but also not the character he plays) to appear in “obscene” pictures — although the definition of obscenity presumes no artistic merit.

So what are we to make of this? I guess that it’s typical of “new media” that slanting stories for the most hits is perfectly justified — something I would like to think responsible journalists wouldn’t do. I haven’t done that, have I? I mean, I’m just using these pictures to make a point. Right? … RIGHT?

Numerous outlets, including The Dallas Morning News and The Houston Chronicle, are reporting that Texas Rep. Chet Edwards is a finalist on the short list of potential vice presidential candidates for Sen. Barack Obama. As previously reported by Instant Tea, Edwards has a very poor record on LGBT issues. However, he has the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an LGBT ally, who announced Aug. 3 that she wants him to be vice president.

“One Democratic official with knowledge of the conversation said Obama told Pelosi recently that she would be pleased with the choice. Other Democratic officials said he was on the short list. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Obama’s selection process.”

If he does choose Edwards, it would be a huge setback for Obama’s gay supporters and the LGBT community in general. It would clearly show that Obama has no problem filling important positions, including Supreme Court justice, with social conservatives. Edwards is a Southern Baptist who clearly believes that gays are second-class citizens. I realize Edwards is a “Democrat,” but personally I’m tired of having a hick from Texas in the White House. Let’s hope this was a leak intended to increase the suspense and uncertainty about Obama’s choice. But it’s not exactly the type of suspense I enjoy, kind of like waiting for biopsy results.

I just got a google alert about a new blog post that is appalling. Marye Audet at MarriageActually.com is speaking out against gay marriage — and she’s doing it by picking on Dallas gays.
She talks about how she used to live here in the ‘70s and had lots of gay friends and even went to Plantation, what she calls the “1977 Mecca for the gay community.”
But then it turns ugly and she writes: “I went to many, MANY Dallas parties at addresses on streets like Herschel and Oak Lawn. I have seen gay relationships up close. They may be a lot of things…but they are neither marriages, nor are they gay (happy, joyful, fun).”
I encourage all of you to comment on her blog and let Marye know just how wrong she is.

AOL.com, which has increasingly relied on photo slide shows to present its soft-news, recently listed dozens of “happy couples” in Hollywood. (Note: The criteria seemed pretty lax — the list included Chris Kattan, who broke with his wife of eight weeks days later.) Showing the increasing acceptance of same-sex marriage (at least from the liberal mainstream media), included on the list were several high-profile gay couples, including George Takei and Brad Altman, Cynthia Nixon and her lumberjack girlfriend and of course newlyweds Ellen and Portia.

Well, add comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer to the list. One of the first openly gay comics to attract national attention, Westenhoefer and her longtime partner, Jennifer Houston, will wed legally in California  on Sept. 6. It will be the second ceremony for the couple, who had a commitment ceremony in November 2006.

In lieu of a gift, Westenhoefer requests you attend her comedy show, “A Bottom on Top,” which she brings to the Lakewood Theater on Saturday. You can pass along your wishes … and expect her to talk about marriage a lot.