Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Jul 17, 2009

Friday, July 17, 2009

Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street

I want to focus on a slightly new direction with this entry.

Professional wrestling is no different than almost everything else on television - highly scripted.

And like so many other programs it has become a complicated mix complete with anti-heroes with questionable values whom you are supposed to hate but find yourself cheering for.

But once upon a time, professional wrestling was simple with heroes who embraced the notion of fair play battling it out with cheaters, foreign invaders, and assorted oddball.

And no oddball was stranger than the "Exotic" Adrian Street. Street portrayed an effiminate wrestler would prance to the ring with his valet (and real life wife) Miss Linda in tow arrayed in glitter, leather, and make-up with his hair in pigtails.

While no one would come out and say the words "gay" or "homosexual," the epithets hurled at him by the crowd and the snide comments by announcers left no doubt that this was the image he pushed out there.

But there was something else about the Adrian Street wrestling character that made him a fascinating paradigm.

He was portrayed to be as tough as hell. Members of the audience who laughed at his mannerisms found themselves screaming in rage with how he demolished opponents, outsmarted fan favorites, or engaged in ugly beatdowns.

So I guess the question is can Adrian Street's RuPaul-cum-Arnold Swarzeneggar style be considered as an unusual spin on the negative ways lgbts were portrayed in the media or was he just the standard stereotype of the "psychotic queer?"

Check out his videos and judge for yourself. And yes that is him singing:

Congressman John Lewis, Box Turtle Bulletin is two for two, and other Friday news briefs

Congressman John Lewis Speaks OUT! - Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the African-American civil rights movement lays it down like it should be done.

Follow Up on Brett Vanasdlen - Remember Peter LaBarbera saying that he will keep us with this story? Here is the reason why he didn't.

Demand Honesty - Sometimes You’ll Get It - Box Turtle Bulletin is on a hot streak this week. The webpage gets the Illinois Family Institute to change a fallacious statement.

NBJC First Black LGBT Group to Address NAACP Convention - Slowly but aggressively we are moving forward.

And now, some fun . . .

This week has been too hectic and too serious so I thought I would include a clip of The Electric Company. Why? Because I feel like it:

Hate crimes legislation passes and before Stonewall

Two items this morning:

The Senate voted to pass The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

However let's not celebrate just yet:

Though the amendment garnered three votes more than necessary to reach cloture, the fate of the hate crimes measure is now partially linked to $1.75 billion in funding for F-22 fighter jets that is also included in the DOD legislation.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates both oppose the F-22 program and a White House spokesperson said the president will not sign a DOD bill that continues to fund the program.

"The President has long supported the hate crimes bill and gave his personal commitment to Judy Shepard that we will enact an inclusive bill,” said Shin Inouye, referring to Shepard’s Oval Office visit with the president earlier this year. “Unfortunately, the President will have to veto the Defense Authorization bill if it includes wasteful spending for additional F-22s. The collective judgment of the Service Chiefs and Secretaries of the military departments is that the current program is sufficient to meet operational requirements. A Presidential veto would not indicate any change in President Obama’s commitment to seeing the hate crimes bill enacted."

Senators Carl Levin and John McCain have offered a bi-partisan amendment to remove the F-22 funding that is scheduled for a vote Monday, but insiders say the count is unclear.

If the amendment fails and President Obama vetoes the bill, it will be sent back to the Senate for a rewrite. A Democratic Senate aide said Senator Reid was optimistic, nonetheless, that hate crimes would ultimately make the final version of DOD authorization.

I'm not pouring any champagne until THAT bill is on President Obama's desk signed, sealed, and delivered. Until then, there is still work to do.

Also, I found something very interesting on youtube that demonstrates just how ridiculous it is to have this diversionary argument between the black and gay communities.

While the two groups fight for position, we are missing out on a good historical perspective: