In this week’s Gay Agenda, CW33′s Doug Magditch (who’s sporting a new look) reports on the Boy Scouts’ decision to poll parents on its gay ban, an online test that shows how homophobic people are, and news that the Vatican owns a gay sauna. Watch it below.
In this week’s installment, CW33’s Doug Magditch highlights Texas’ “homosexual conduct” law that’s still on the books a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court found it unconstitutional. The segment also mentions a drag queen who was asked to read at a daycare and then uninvited because his appearance was “inappropriate,” as well as the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity at Boston’s Emerson College that’s raising money for a trans brother’s surgery.
Watch it below.
Zeus Comics’ Richard Neal talks to CW33′s Doug Magditch about his decision not to carry the new Superman comic after DC Comics tapped anti-gay bigot Orson Scott Card to help write it.
In this week’s installment, CW33′s Doug Magditch talks about backlash against DC Comics for tapping an anti-gay bigot to help write the new Superman; the Associated Press’ reluctance to refer to married same-sex couples as “husband” or “wife”; and the furor over an anti-gay prom in Indiana. And as usual, don’t miss my cameo! Watch it below.
This week’s “Gay Agenda” focuses on the high rate of new HIV infections in the black community. The CW33’s Doug Magditch also points out the hundreds of out politicians across the nation, including the possibility of Dallas getting an out City Council member this year. And finally, as the image above shows, a new lingerie line is coming this spring for transgender women.
Watch it below.
This week’s edition of CW33 reporter Doug Magditch’s “Gay Agenda” touches on the Main Event incident involving a gay Plano couple. But instead of senior editor John Wright’s commentary on the issue, Magditch interviewed the lesbian on staff (me) to add a bit of diversity. I also covered the story, so I knew what I was talking about. But John will certainly be back to offer his insight in upcoming segments. Watch it below.
GAY AGENDA | Randy Roberts Potts and his boyfriend, Keaton Johnson, perform ‘The Gay Agenda’ to show what ordinary lives gays and lesbians lead. (Photo by Ange Fitzgerald courtesy of Randy Roberts Potts)
DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
To bridge the gap between what most evangelicals imagine when they think of a gay couple and what he knows most gay couples do, Randy Roberts Potts has come up with The Gay Agenda, a performance piece designed to be boring.
For a weekend, Potts, the out gay grandson of evangelist Oral Roberts, and his boyfriend Keaton Johnson will set up house, so to speak, in a public space in various locations in the central U.S. They will watch TV, make coffee and even take a nap.
What they won’t do is kiss or even touch much.
And they hope people from the area will come and watch — but only for a short time. Because what they’ll be doing is extremely boring.
They expect that local media will come and talk to them about their mundane lives. And on Sunday morning, Potts hopes a local church will allow him to come and speak.
Like many gay people, Potts had to deal with family issues wrapped up in religion. And like many other gay men, before he came out, he married and had three kids.
But Potts’ family was a special challenge. His grandfather Oral Roberts’ side of the family was the liberal side.
Potts said that he hasn’t spoken to his mother — Oral’s daughter Roberta who sits on the board of Oral Roberts University — in a year. But he doesn’t mourn that loss. He said he never had a close relationship with her.
On his father’s even more conservative side of the family, dancing was out and they never watched movies. Potts said he taught cousins on that side of the family what the pictures and numbers on playing cards meant.
But Potts is healthy and happy. He shares joint custody of his children and adores them. He and his boyfriend just celebrated their one-year anniversary. And his boyfriend’s family has warmly welcomed him into their family.
AND PUPPY MAKES 3 | Potts and Johnson spent most of their time at the Aurora Arts Festival on the sofa watching TV. (Photo by Ange Fitzgerald courtesy of Randy Roberts Potts)
But Potts understands the pain many people from similar backgrounds feel. And he knows that much of it comes from the misconception people have about the lives gay people lead.
Before taking their show on the road, Potts and Johnson did a test run at the Aurora Arts Festival in the Arts District in Downtown Dallas on Oct. 30. They set up a living room along the street near the Winspear Opera House and proceeded to do those routine things people do at home. They spent much of the evening sitting and watching TV.
A small sign identified the art project. Potts said one woman watched curiously for a few minutes, then noticed the sign, grabbed her young daughter’s hand and moved along quickly. Others responded with amusement or simple bewilderment.
Potts said that there was little show of affection between him and his partner. He said that normally people don’t spend their time at home being affectionate. They just hang out together and do something dull like watch TV.
And the point wasn’t to shock people: When Potts and Johnson sat together on the couch, they were watching television. They weren’t kissing. They weren’t touching.
One of them got up to make some coffee. He brought a cup of coffee to the other, fixed the way he likes it. Again, that’s something couples do at home.
Boring.
That’s the point.
“Most people think of two men having sex,” Potts said. “This project is to push back on that stereotype.”
After the successful tryout in Dallas, Potts plans to take the installation on tour. Over the next year, he’d like to take the installation to some smaller cities, maybe one a month.
Tulsa? Maybe they’ll visit his hometown eventually. He said that may be the finale of the tour. But the first stop will be in his home state in Oklahoma City.
Potts said he’s not looking for confrontation or dangerous situations and he’s not looking to be a martyr. The goal is simply to perform The Gay Agenda in small cities throughout the center of the country.
In Dallas during the art fair, Potts said he felt safe performing out in the street. But in small-town America, he wants some level of protection.
So the plan is to rent an abandoned store window and borrow some living room furniture from some local gays so Potts and Johnson don’t have to haul their apartment all over the country. Then, for two days, they’ll lead their boring lives in the storefront for anyone in town to watch.
On Sunday morning, he said, he hoped a local church would allow the grandson of the famous evangelist to speak to the congregation.
“I don’t consider myself a preacher. “But churches are on the forefront of the battle for gay rights,” he explained.
To help fund the project, Potts is collaborating with the non-partisan Liberty Education Forum, a sister organization of Log Cabin Republicans. Potts said he thought that group would be a perfect partner because of its experience working in conservative areas.
He said the idea is to leave people with a different impression of gay people and what they do in their private lives in a way they’re not getting on television.
Potts said that the characters from Will & Grace and Modern Family have made The Gay Agenda possible. But this time the characters aren’t in New York or California, but right there in small-town America next to the kind of people the LGBT equality message needs to reach.
And while Potts doesn’t expect churches to suddenly embrace their LGBT members and neighbors, he hopes to nudge them toward providing a safer community.
If the piece succeeds in drawing attention and softening views, Potts said he’d like to see other same-sex couples perform The Gay Agenda in their own hometowns. But for now, he just hopes Liberty Education Forum will help him book about one performance a month over the course of the next year.
Why take the risk?
“If I felt accepted by my family, I wouldn’t go out and do this,” Potts said. “It’s my attempt to say, ‘I’m not that weird.’”
Johnson is in his late 20s and has been out since high school. His motivation is different.
“He wants to make things be the way he thought they always were,” Potts said.
Potts noted that there’s not much outreach to the evangelical community. The national organizations mostly work with potential allies. Most people in the LGBT community are afraid of or don’t know how to approach evangelicals.
But Potts knows that community intimately and deals with his strict religious upbringing with some amusement. He speaks of the university his grandfather founded with some pride, mentioning the school’s two best-known alumni — presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and Homer Simpson’s next door neighbor, Ned Flanders.
“Okaly dokaly,” Potts said. “Look at his wall. He has an ORU diploma hanging up.”
And although he tends to avoid contact with his immediate family in Oklahoma, Potts did attend his grandfather’s funeral. But he was not invited to sit with the family. And while his mother was delivering the eulogy, she spotted him in the audience. From the stage, in front of thousands of people, she began yelling at him.
Potts said he figures she was the one who looked foolish, not him.
Sharing the message
A year ago, Potts made an “It Gets Better” video dedicated to his Uncle Ronnie, Oral’s son who was also gay and who committed suicide. The video has gotten more than 130,000 hits.
And when he takes The Gay Agenda to smaller cities in Middle America, he said he hopes people will see that gays and lesbians lead the same sort of lives as straight people, that LGBTs aren’t a threat. If he gets to speak in a church, Potts said he hopes the congregation will get his simple message.
“I will be talking about the difference between tolerance and acceptance,” he said. “The LGBT community has been tolerated, in varying degrees, for the last 40 years since Stonewall. Tolerance is better than what came before, when our freedom of assembly rights were not guaranteed and even gay book clubs could be [and often were] stormed by the police.”
He said he wants people to understand that gays and lesbians would like to be open about themselves on Main Street, not just on a cruise, in a gay bar or on a gay-themed sitcom.
“Our little performance piece is symbolic of a move out of the ghetto and onto Main Street — how we’re received in each community will say a lot about how accepted our community is in that locale,” Potts said. “Our gay agenda, if there is one, is to be loved and accepted.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition December 9, 2011.
Dan Savage spoke for nearly two hours at The Kessler last night to a standing-room-only crowd (OK, there were some chairs open) and the audience was putty in his beefy hands. The applause roared as he came out and instead of going with any kind of speaking agenda, he answered audience questions collected on notecards earlier in the night. Of course, most were sex-based questions and the show turned mostly into the live version of his Savage Love podcast where he doles out sex advice in hilarious, clever and poignant fashion. As you can see from the video after the jump, he even took on a question about sex robots.
According to a report in the New York Times, marriage, rather than employment non-discrimination, is the next item on the official “Gay Agenda” now that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is on its way to being repealed.
A new group called Equality Matters grew out of a group called Media Matters. Bill Clinton adviser Richard Socarides will head the group. Advocate writer Kerry Eleveld will edit the group’s website.
The Times points out that marriage discrimination means discrimination in taxes, social security benefits and other programs run by the federal government even if a couple is legally married.
While many more rights flow from marriage equality, it is interesting that the group has chosen that as the next fight. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was, in many ways, an employment non-discrimination issue. The next logical win would be again in the employment area. Most people understand that someone shouldn’t be fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, even among people who base their marriage-equality views on religion.
And Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said he welcomed the new group and hoped they would help change opinions. But who gave this new group the authority to decide the next battle? Or is the New York Times bestowing a title on the group prematurely? Either way, we weren’t consulted and haven’t even received a press release from Equality Matters.
Jon Nelson Special Contributor
I’m mad, sad and a little tired. Over the years, I have been involved in issues with a finite end: See a problem, organize a coalition, have open discussions and solve the problem.
Not so with equal rights for gays. We have made strides and yet, with the new Congress, there surely will be setbacks.
I just got through watching And The Band Played On, a movie about the beginnings of AIDS in the 1980s, the resistance to its recognition, the struggle for funding for research and the compelling humanity of those who were infected. And I guess it’s their stories that have caused me to think about where we are, why there is so much resistance and why, even though I am tired, I cannot stop now.
Repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and enactment of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act are all legislative goals to right the wrongs levied against a segment of our society.
But much of society doesn’t see it that way. They speak in terms of a “gay agenda,” “gay rights” or “pushing a lifestyle on us” that would lead to the “destruction of our family values.”
The problem for me is that most of these people aren’t evil or stupid or even mean-spirited. Many are my friends. Yet they believe in their hearts something that has a definite, negative impact on the lives of millions.
Surely that can’t be right, but why can’t they see that?
I read a story in which one Presbyterian minister eloquently denounced the homophobia which exists in many a religious doctrine, and then I read a quasi-rebuttal from another minister of the same faith. He had kindness in his heart, but his message was clear: We should love one another but not condone homosexuality.
This makes me mad, sad and tired because of the message it sends to those who so desperately need support and help: Our youth.
Somewhere in Fort Worth today, a young girl sits in a pew, next to her parents, and hears the minister proclaim that God has judged her feelings to be an abomination, and either she must change or be damned to hell — but that she is loved nevertheless. And she is so hurt and confused.
Somewhere in Fort Worth today, a young boy, egged on by his peers, with shrill voice and hyena smile, yells the word “faggot” at another boy who is confused and full of self-doubt. And the boy who uttered those words has heard his minister make similar proclamations as the girl’s minister. And that boy has heard his parents make jokes about gays and worse. And he has seen politicians and others of prominence disparage the “gay movement” as a threat to “our” society.
No wonder he acts the way he does.
As a lawyer, I am used to logic and clear argument. Take the case in California dealing with the constitutionality of the marriage ban. Let’s start with something we all can agree on and something which is the law: Before our rights can be infringed upon, the state must show some compelling interest that must be protected.
That’s the law. It’s part of our Constitution and so the state must put on evidence in court to prove that some state interest needs protecting, thus justifying the infringement of your rights or mine.
Evidence, not emotion. Facts, not fabrication.
In the California case, as in every other case which has been tried, there was none.
THERE IS NONE!
How loud do I have to say it? How many times do I have to say it?
THERE IS NONE!
How would you like to go to court and be convicted or lose a civil case even though the other side presented no credible evidence against you? There is no factual — and therefore no legal — basis to deny us the same rights as you have.
If I were a minister and, standing in the pulpit, said that God had proclaimed slavery to be the natural way of life, or that it was un-Christian for women to have the right to vote, you would throw me out — or worse. Yet that is exactly what happened in our country and in mainline church pulpits. Bible verses were used to justify inequality.
Today you think, “How could they have done that?” Or “Why would anyone believe that?” And yet, I hear the same today.
So I want to talk to you as a gay man who is watching what is happening. To the minister, the politician, the parent, to you: Your words have effects on others.
Just stop and think for a moment. Is the message you are sending hurtful to others, even though you mean well?
Fact: Every reputable medical organization in the world has long proclaimed homosexuality to be normal. Why are you ignoring that? Fact: There is absolutely no evidence that granting equal rights to gays will have any adverse effect on marriages between a man and a woman. Why are you ignoring that?
It is time for you to stop saying, “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” It’s condescending and demeaning to me. You are judging me and shouldn’t.
Do you hear the anger in my words? It’s because I’m human and have feelings. Listen, I picked up a rifle and went to war for you, and you tell me that I am not equal to you? I can still see those dead eyes staring into space, and you tell me I can’t marry the man I love?
You’re damn right I’m mad, and you would be, too, if you were in my shoes.
So think. Think about me and you. Think about the children and the messages you are sending. As human beings, we are all connected and in this together. Let’s treat each other that way. In the meantime, I won’t give up on you.
Jon Nelson is an attorney in Fort Worth and one of the co-founders of Fairness Fort Worth.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 19, 2010.
It happened three weeks ago, but this story is so bizarre that we couldn’t resist sharing it belatedly.
The story headlined “Gay Pride, Gay Prank or Gay Ole Time?” is from The Leakey (Texas) Star, which appears to be the “newspaper” serving a small Hill Country town west of San Antonio.
According to the story by the Star’s editor, Penny Maguire, there was an unusual entry in this year’s Fourth of July parade that featured people dressed as Harlem Globetrotters players accompanied by (gasp!) men impersonating female beauty pageant contestants. Some locals, including Maguire, now suspect the entry may have been part of a secret plot to advance the gay agenda. That’s right, only in Texas:
As Independence Day jubileers lined U.S. Hwy. 83 through rural downtown Leakey last Saturday, saluting the U.S. flag under umbrellas and pledging their allegiance to one nation under God, a controversial parade entry made an unexpected appearance. Some spectators, including Chamber Director Glenn Bradley, said the entry was ‘inappropriate.’
Parade enthusiasts are asking, “Was the popular, traditional family venue, when hometown queens, veterans, clowns, tractors, horses, and decorated trailers display the American flag, sabotaged?” “We didn’t mind the rain from tropical storm Alex, but this group rained on our Texas parade,” said one Rio Frio resident. Another spectator said the entry was ‘provocative.’ Many didn’t grasp the concept.
So, who were these participants and what was their entry theme, or was there one? Did a seemingly innocent, entertaining basketball performance by a group imitating the Harlem Globetrotters suggest subtle symbolisms of the gay pride movement? Touting a sign which read: America’s Champions, Miss America’s vs. Harlem Globe Trotters, may or may not have suggested participants were simulating a 2009 reality show (The Amazing Race) when two gay brothers competed with two Globetrotters and a former Miss America. Several of the marchers appeared to be men modeling women’s swimsuits wearing pageant banners and crowns. Homosexuals now compete in nationally acclaimed Miss Gay America competitions. Learn more www.missgayamerica.com.
Pictured above, a male, crowned the title ‘Miss Hap’, sported a hot pink feminine bodysuit. Coincidentally, a Facebook fan page entitled ‘Miss Hap’ advertises drag queen events. Upon our investigation, other pageant banners, to include Miss Matched, Ms. Lead, Miss Cherokee and Miss Dream Catcher, interestingly linked to gay history. Superwoman is an organization that boasts support for lesbian marriages. Some spectators report women in the entry appeared to have sported patriotic superwoman attire.(www.iamsuperwoman.com.)
