Find out tonight who’s talents and style will push them to the top as contestants vie for top honors by the Texas Gay Rodeo Association. Bedazzled gowns and tight wranglers are in store when tonight’s event gets us ready for the TGRA Rodeo in March. Yeehaw!
DEETS: Round-Up Saloon, 3912 Cedar Springs Road. 8 p.m. RoundUpSaloon.com.
In the liturgical calendar of the Christian church twelfth night is the last day of the Christmas season. (Remember the 12 days of Christmas? They start on December 24 and end December 5) Twelfth night also kicks off the carnival season that culminates in the celebration of Mardi Gras. The Krewe of Olympus, Houston’s own predominately gay Mardi Gras Krewe, welcomes the season in style with “Pretty in Pink:” a twelfth night fundraiser benefiting the Montrose Counseling Center. The festivities are Saturday night, January 7 (’cause who wants to party on a Thursday?) starting at 7 pm at the Counseling Center (401 Branard) and include traditional king cake as well as an open bar, hors d’oevres and a Mardi Gras mask auction. In keeping with the theme guests are invited to wear their best outfits in shades of pink (be it blush or bashful).
The Krewe of Olympus started in New Orleans in 1970 before moving to Houston. According to their website:
We are one of the largest predominately gay Krewes in the United States, although our membership is open to all. Our principal aims are to present theatrical and educational events that perpetuate and continue Mardi Gras traditions and to raise money for community charities. Since moving to Texas, we’ve donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Houston and Dallas Charitable Organizations. We are a 501(c)(3) non profit organization.
Tickets for the event are $35 and are available at the door.
Dec. 1 isn’t just World AIDS Day — it’s also the 22nd annual Day With(out) Art, a movement launched in 1989 by the group Visual AIDS to mark the effect of the AIDS crisis on the arts community. In observance of the day, SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts will be among more than 50 colleges, museums and arts groups holding a free screening of the film Untitled.
Untitled, from Jim Hodges, Encke King and Carlos Marques da Cruz, is an hour-long, non-linear documentary featuring montages of archival footage recalling the period of activism in the early days of the AIDS crisis. The screening will take place in the Greer Carson Screening Room (room 3527) of the Owen Arts Building on SMU’s campus, 6101 Bishop Ave. at 5:30 p.m.
To a pastry chef, the term “piece o’ cake” probably pisses you off. (Don’t even get ‘em started on “easy as pie.”) Cake is hard! Especially when you’re trying to impress the judges on a national network, commemorating the re-release of the most popular animated film of all time.
But Dallas’ Bronwen Weber of Frosted Art Bakery and Studio made it look, well, like a piece o’ cake Sunday night, when she won the Food Network’s Lion King-themed bake-off.
Weber’s dynamic interpretation of the villainous Scar in mid-leap bested all the other competitors, with the show airing the second weekend when the new 3D Lion King claimed the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office.
This is nothing new for the gay-friendly Weber, who last year designed “pride cake” cupcakes with rainbows and HRC symbols. She has won 14 medals from the Food Network, including eight first-place citations — three more than her nearest competitor. The episode airs again tonight at 7 p.m.
You can find Weber’s treats at FrostedArt.com.
In honor of Martin Luther King day, I thought I’d share some quotes regarding equality and how it relates to our community from his late wife, Coretta Scott King. As the torch bearer who continued the march for equality in the beloved community, she remains a brilliant hero for us.
“I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice… But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’ … I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”1“Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing, and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages.”2
and I love this one:
“Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Georgia, and St. Augustine, Florida, and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions.”4
God bless the memory and work towards “the beloved community” by Martin Luther King, and his wonderful wife, Coretta Scott King.
Most people point to Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on this day, but given the times we are in now, perhaps more apt ones to point to would be “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” delivered April 4, 1967, during an appearance at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at the Riverside Church in Harlem, or “Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam,” a sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967.
“Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam.”Let me say finally that I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against this war, not in anger, but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and, above all, with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as the moral example of the world. I speak out against this war because I am disappointed with America. And there can be no great disappointment where there is not great love. I am disappointed with our failure to deal positively and forthrightly with the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism. We are presently moving down a dead-end road that can lead to national disaster. America has strayed to the far country of racism and militarism.
“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.
***
But getting back to that dream about equality that Dr. King gave during that speech in D.C. — it’s probably best he’s not around to see what his surviving daughter Bernice has been up to (his other daughter, Yolanda King passed away; she was a staunch ally).
“I know deep down in my sanctified soul that he did not take a bullet for same-sex unions.”
– Bernice King, the anti-gay daughter of Dr. King, who, ironically, marched with the now-scandal ridden Bishop Eddie Long to “save marriage” with a constitutional amendment in 2004.
Based on what? She was a child when Martin Luther King was shot — her mother knew and understood the man’s views, yet Bernice still cannot reconcile the possibility that her father could embrace the concept of civil equality for gays. Her father had, at his side in the movement, an openly gay man, Bayard Rustin, assisting him in the early days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Will the Bernice Kings of the world ever come around to embrace the idea that equality includes fighting for the rights of her LGBT friends, neighbors and loved ones? And more importantly, will allies in the civil rights struggle continue to work to bring discussions about this schism into view?
One ally who marched with Dr. King, shed blood for equality and today does speak out for LGBT rights is U.S. Congressman and civil rights legend John Lewis (D-GA).
More below the fold.
I had the pleasure of meeting the Congressman at the Equality Alabama dinner back in 2009. He gave a speech that if you closed your eyes, you could believe Dr. King would give it on behalf of the LGBT community. From my coverage:
It was an amazing evening with many old and new friends at Equality Alabama’s Gala Saturday night. The highlight was keynote speaker Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who is a native of Troy, Alabama. His played a legendary fearless role in the civil rights struggles of the 60s — and he is man who believes in LGBT civil equality with equal conviction — he immediately signed on to DOMA repeal legislation.This is significant in a day when there is a clear dearth of support in the religious black community; Lewis has the moral standing that a homophobe in the pulpit like Bishop Harry Jackson can never touch. John Lewis took batons to the head, was beaten to unconsciousness multiple times for equality — courage and moral conviction that Jackson and his fellow charlatans of bigotry are bereft of.
Rep. Lewis spoke eloquently about the simplicity of the government staying out of the lives of gay and lesbian couples — there is no need to “save” marriage from two people who simply want to love one another and be legally affirmed in the same way that heterosexual couples are when they marry.
But perhaps the most powerful message was to those in the LGBT community who are waiting for equality to come to them — Lewis charged us to seize the moment, do not accept being told to wait your turn, to demand your rights through your representative, and most of all take personal responsibility — the message we all heard was loud and clear. Too many LGBTs are in the closet waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting and LEAD. We are all capable of leading by kicking that closet door open. The main meat of the speech begins around 5:00 — and you will want to hear it all. The man had the audience spellbound.
—Gayle King, echoing BFF Oprah's tearful comments about the pair not being lovers, is done stressing about those lesbian tales
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Tagged: Celebs, Gayle King, Gossip, Oprah
New York drag king Murray Hill encourages a crowd of Brooklyn clubgoers
at the Miss Lez pageant to shout “it gets better” for the latest video
in Dan Savage’s campaign to prevent bullied teens from committing suicide.
Advocate.com: Daily News
Steven Carabello, Bryan Almonte and Brian Cepeda — three men charged in the Bronx's Latin King Goonies gay bashings that left three men brutally assaulted and one man robbed — had charges of robbery, gang assault, and unlawful imprisonment dropped because of insufficient evidence, prosecutors say. That leaves eight remaining suspects in the assault that involved plunger handles, lit cigarettes, and a box cutter.
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Tagged: Brian Cepeda, Bryan Almonte, David Rivera, Denis Peitars, Elmer Confessor, Elmer Confresi, Gay Bashing, Ildefonzo Mendez, Jose Dominguez, lain king goonies, Latin King Goonies, Nelson Falu, NYC, Ruddy Vargas-Perez, Steven Carballo, Violence
At yesterday’s Judge Bus stop in Winterset, IA, Congressman Steve King is quoted as saying:
“John Wayne would want you to vote NO” (on retaining Iowa’s pro-equality judges) [SOURCE]
But here’s the thing: The late John Wayne is also on record saying of Native Americans:
“Our so called stealing of this country was just a question of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.” [Playboy, 1971]
And saying of African-Americans:
“I believe in white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.”
…
“It’s not my judgment. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically. But some blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they haven’t passed the tests and don’t have the requisite background” [Playboy, 1971]
So while he was a good actor, American icon, and native Iowan, we think we’d be careful about playing the “John Wayne would’ve...” game. It’s likely that time did evolve his views up until the time of his 1979 death. It’s possible that these quotes don’t reveal what was truly in his heart. But the archived record is the archived record. The raised questions would seem to more fully embolden the side that is seeking minority protection, not modern day limitation.
