Know Your LGBT History - Not Another Gay Movie

Not Another Gay Movie (2006) typifies the saying "you've come a long way, baby."

Another other time in our nation's history, this motion picture would have probably caused huge controversy.

But it went by without a whimper and is actually a cult classic in some circles.

Not Another Gay Movie is an extremely low-brown takeoff of another low-brown comedy (American Pie) which tells the story of four gay teens seeking to lose their "anal virginity."

All of the stereotypes are present - the nerdy guy, the cute jock, the flamboyant queen, and the overly horny guy.

And since it's low-brow there is nudity (a lot of nudity), and toilet humor (the enema scene is one I refuse to describe for you).

So what do I think of this movie?

I liked it. It was hilarious.

Not every lgbt movie has to be serious or have "a message." Nor do lgbt movie characters have to be virtuous . There is nothing wrong with a little crass humor every now and then.

I personally believe that there is a thin line between offensiveness and crass humor and this movie doesn't cross that line.

Barely, that is:




Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

Hate group creating new anti-gay documentary and other Friday midday news briefs

Coming (condemnation of certain) attractions - Let me guess the plot: Lgbts are evil bloodsucking monsters out to destroy the universe.

'Glee' Episode Under Attack For Gay Themes - The religious right must be slipping. It takes them this long to get angry at Glee?

Linda Harvey Blames Mortgage Crisis On Homosexuality - Oh yeah. That's the reason for the mortgage crisis.

U.S. Labor Department strives to be 'model workplace' for gay, lesbian, transgender employees - Good for the Department of Labor.

With Drudge Report's Help, Birthers Latch Onto Phony Forgery Theory - Birthers are like the religious right. When the facts contradict them, they create their own "facts."

'Porno' Pete LaBarbera getting desperate, returns back to his old habits

Virulent homophobe Peter LaBarbera got the nickname of "Porno Pete" for his habit of going to subcultural leather events, taking pictures, and then giving "loving" details of the shenanigans there by the gay men while ignoring the activities of heterosexuals in attendance.

For a while, it looked like LaBarbera has shied away from the behavior which made him infamous.

But I guess old habits die hard. However instead of prowling subcultural leather events, our "friendly neighborhood anti-gay activist" is now prowling universities, most specifically the University of Chicago:

The University of Chicago provided nearly $3,200 to a “kink” student group for a traveling sadomasochistic “leather library” exhibit at the University that eroticized pedophilia, incest, and the most deviant pornographic perversions known to mankind.

Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) sent a reporter yesterday to the exhibit – at the University’s International House – and came back with photos of the shockingly perverse offerings of the “Carter Johnson Leather Library,” including:

. . . Incredibly, the University of Chicago now officially sanctions a “student group” for sexual sadists: RACK (Risk-Aware Consensual Kink), through which the traveling “leather library” exhibit was funded. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, RACK “received nearly $3,200 in university grant money to bring the display to campus.”

The grant for the “fetish” exhibit came from the “Uncommon Fund,” a $40,000, student-run program that “offers a chance for students to pursue a wide range of ideas that can benefit the campus community and campus life,” a U-Chicago spokesman told the Sun-Times.

Photo-"art" from the Leather Library shows a woman beating her male "slave," who has a ball-and-chain attached to his ankle. Why would the University of Chicago pay to promote such "sexualized cruelty" to its students?

The sadistic-sex exhibit was free and open to the public, and while AFTAH’s reporter was present, a few young women and men – who appeared to be around 20 – came to view the depraved materials.

My guess is that the "reporter" was Peter himself. It's always amusing when he attempts to make his organization sound like a big group rather than the depraved fantasy of one man who masks his bizarre interest in subcultural leather events into a crusade "for morality."

And of course LaBarbera provides graphic pictures and descriptions of this event, which by the way, was not lgbt specific. At no time does the original Chicago Sun Times article, which LaBarbera alluded to, called it an lgbt-specific event.

Welcome back, "Porno Pete." Those of us pining for amusement have missed you.

A more balanced view - and between you and me, I probably wouldn't go to an event like this - is here in The Chicago Sun Times.

N @&!%r, show me you papers!

It's true I am a gay man. And I am also a black man and as such, I'm still pissed over what President Obama was forced to do yesterday. So I will hand it over to Goldie Taylor, contributing editor of The Grio. She breaks it down to a level of understanding which needs to be seen far and wide. The title of this post is extreme (which is not in Taylor's monologue), but it's the one thing that has been consistently flashing in my mind since yesterday. If it offends you, good. Now you have a little taste of how I feel right now.:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read Taylor's original piece here.

Homophobe don't like black people either and other Thursday midday news briefs

Oklahoma GOP Lawmaker Sally Kern: ‘Blacks’ Don’t Work As Hard As White People - If the lgbt equality movement and the African-American equality movement aren't linked, then how come we seen to draw the same enemies?

Focus On The Family Warns That Gay Rights Will Devastate The Judiciary - And here I thought that all we were concerned with was the "indoctrination of children."

Video: 'Lesbians are lesbians because they're too ugly to get a man'; 'should not be allowed to vote' - No comments necessary.

Feds To Hold Bullying Hearings - Now these are hearings that I can support.

Johnson & Johnson Turns Its Back on AIDS Patients - This is NOT good.

Planned Parenthood billboards called too gay-friendly

From The Advocate:

Planned Parenthood billboards that advertise services to LGBT clients in rural New York State have prompted objections from critics including a state senator who says the billboards use tax dollars to promote same-sex marriage.

In February, Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes installed the billboards in locations throughout Chemung, Steuben, and Tompkins counties in western New York. The billboards say, “Someone you know is in love” and feature two men embracing, with a tagline that says Planned Parenthood is “proudly serving the LGBT community.”

While Planned Parenthood says the billboards aim to engage isolated rural LGBT people in managing their health, state senator Thomas O’Mara, a Republican who represents the area, interprets the billboards as a state-sponsored advertisement for marriage equality. WETM TV, which first reported on the controversy, included his comments about one of the billboards on Route 352 in Big Flats near Elmira.

“I object to this message that seems to be in support of same-sex marriage and using taxpayer dollars to support that political agenda,” he told the station.

Before the sodomy laws were struck down, they were used as a shield to keep lgbt positive information from being spread and lgbt positive groups from being formed. They were used as an excuse for some folks not to employ openly lgbt individuals.

Now, the "we don't want to promote gay marriage" argument is in its place. It doesn't have the same wide effect of the sodomy laws, but from this example in New York, we see how devastating that argument can be.

Studies show that a main obstruction to lgbts gaining good health information is a fear of being exposed to homophobia, as well as not having enough health entities solely focused on their needs. This billboard by Planned Parenthood is the right step to providing lgbts with good health information by easing their fears.

The failure to equip lgbts with good health information leads to a self-actualizing dichotomy that the religious right will no doubt exploit.

Or more to the point (and this is hypothetical):

• Studies show that homophobia leads to lack of good health information in the lgbt community.

• Planned Parenthood begins a campaign, including billboards to combat this problem

• The billboards face objection from folks claiming that they are "advocating" gay marriage (or "indoctrinating children into homosexuality")

• Religious right groups (i.e. Family Research Council's Tony Perkins or Peter Sprigg) condemn the billboards in emails and on Fox News.

• Because of the outcry, the billboards come down and the campaign is toned down for fear that Planned Parenthood could lose funding.

• Lgbts continue to have health problems because of homophobia.

• Religious right groups (i.e. the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins or Peter Sprigg) repeat the notion that homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle and cites the studies talking about lgbt health problems, making sure to omit the portion about how homophobia leads to these problems.

It's madness when looking at it from the outside. But imagine how it is when you are an lgbt caught in the middle of this maelstrom of madness.

And how do African-Americans feel about this 'birther' mess?

Granted, the media will probably never ask the African-American community how we feel about this birther mess, but I can safely say that this young man, Baratunde Thurston, pretty much sums it up not only for me but a wide majority of black folks: