Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Friday, January 14, 2011

Know Your LGBT History - Mahogany

Ever since his stellar work in the legendary motion picture Psycho (1960), the late Anthony Perkins was forever typecast as either a jittery momma's boy or a borderline maniac on the brink of going off.

And his work in the Diana Ross vehicle, Mahogany (1975), was an extension of this.

In this movie, where Ross portrays a woman from the ghetto who becomes a successful fashion model then designer, Perkins portrays the photographer who discovers her, christens her as "Mahogany," becomes her champion, and then tries to kill her.

And he does all of this because he supposedly is in love with her. However, Perkins's character has a problem with accepting his homosexuality, as this scene shows him pathetically trying to seduce Ross. When the sex doesn't work out, he turns on her, humiliating her little by little (ignore the brief interlude with Billy Dee Williams fighting the dock worker):

Finally, everything come to a head in this scene, when he attempts what almost every self-hating gay man in the movies does - suicide. However, he is intent on taking Ross with him (the good part starts at .30 seconds):

The deliberate cluelessness of the religious right and other Friday midday news briefs

Teacher claims admin unresponsive to bullying - Then they need to get on the ball.

Vanderbilt Maintains Policy, But Religious Right Declares Victory - The deliberate cluelessness of the religious right personified.

Minneapolis school board passes stringent anti–gay bullying, pro-LGBT curriculum - Good news from Minnesota!

WATCH: CNN's T.J. Holmes Interviews Daniel Hernandez - Lgbt role models needs as much press as we can give them.

Wingnuts Back Crazy Eyes 2012 - Michele Bachmann and the religious right - a match made in the inner sanctum of an insane asylum.

BET looks at lgbts of color, destroys myths about being gay

Black Entertainment Television has done something extremely positive and it needs to garner more attention.

On its website, BET has a huge feature spotlighting issues of lgbts of color.

This feature spotlights 36 prominent lgbts of color including:

Comedian Wanda Sykes

Former Palm Spring Mayor Ron Oden

Professor, author, and social activist Angela Davis

Oscar nominated director Lee Daniels

The webpage also refutes - in very short fashion - 12 myths about the lgbt community including such questions as:

Is being gay simply about sex,
Can people change their sexual orientation
Do gays "recruit?"

In addition, BET also showcases 10 films dealing with gay issues and spotlights entertainers who have shown support for the lgbt community.

What BET is doing is monumental. It is a HUGE step because young lgbts of color are given potential role models. Also, BET is moving the conversation regarding lgbts of color from the shadows of the black community to the forefront, where it should be. It gives lgbts of color a chance to jump in the conversation rather than simply being talked about - which is nice, for a change.

And I seriously doubt that you will be hearing any pushback from folks like Peter LaBarbera and organizations like the Family Research Council talking about "balance" and "showing the other side of the argument."

You see one thing that people have overlooked when it comes to talking about the lgbt community of color is the fact that the religious right are deathly afraid of entering into any conflict with us. Oh sure they play up the gay vs. black conflict as sort of a "divide and conquer thing," but they don't want to directly confront us lgbts of color because they are afraid of being seen as racist.

It's in their best interest to keep the black and gay community angry and divided. However, with this spotlight, BET demonstrates that both communities need to get over their differences because they have more in common than realized.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Michele Malkin called out for lying about Arizona rally/memorial and other Thursday afternoon news briefs

Politifact calls Michele Malkin out for lying about last night's rally/memorial in Arizona with President Obama - Not necessarily an lgbt issue per se but highly important. Someone with this much hatred in her heart has to have a mental problem.

Video: Haley Barbour's pride parade - After he has gotten into trouble for his racism, Barbour switches to homophobia.

Fallout of a police sting in a safe place - You simply have to read this story. It is an excellent piece about police entrapment.

Gearing Up To Stop Genocide In Uganda and Spotlighting The Family - Wayne Besen lists those responsible for that awful Ugandan anti-gay bill. Awesome breakdown.

San Francisco home to first US gay museum - We need more of these across the country.

Pawlenty mingles with anti-gay hate group, wants to reinstate DADT

According to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, former Minnesota Governor and potential presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty chose an interesting venue to promote his new book - the American Family Association's radio program with Bryan Fischer.

Now Fischer is infamous for his ugly statements about not only the Muslim community but lgbts. Fisher has:

•Said that “homosexuals should be disqualified from public office.” (8/5/2010)

•Insisted that gays are biased, sexually deviant felons, not to mention pedophiles, and should never serve on the Supreme Court. (4/15/2010, 4/16/2010)

•Called gay adoption “a terrible, terrible, inexcusable, inhumane thing to do to children.” (8/10/2010)

•Argued that we should“impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse." (2/3/2010)

•Wrote: “The inescapable conclusion is that gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism.” (6/10/2010)

•Said: “Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual solders basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whomever Hitler sent them after. So he surrounded himself, virtually all of the Stormtroopers, the Brownshirts, were male homosexuals.” (5/25/2010)

As we all know, the AFA has been called an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and mostly because of comments made by Fischer.

However Pawlenty was only interested in playing nice with Fischer, even to the point of talking positively of reinstating Don't Ask, Don't Tell:

Bryan, I have been a public and repeat supporter of maintaining Don't Ask, Don't Tell. There's a lot of reasons for that, but if you look at how the combat commanders and the combat units feel about it, the results of those kinds of surveys were different than the ones that were mostly reported in the newspaper and that is something I think we need to pay attention to. But I have been a public supporter of maintaining Don't Ask, Don't Tell and I would support reinstating it as well.

Now why a prospective presidential candidate would grace a program from someone who voices such awful opinions is beyond me. Let's be clear about something - if Fischer's comments had been racist or anti-Semitic, Pawlenty wouldn't have dared to come on his program.

But since they pertaining to the lgbt community, some folks may think that these comments and Pawlenty's appearance on the program of the person making then are both okay.

And it's par for the course for Pawlenty.

Ever since the buzz about his presidential aspirations was made public, Pawlenty seems to have been on a mission to establish his so-called "conservative credentials" on the backs of the lgbt community.

On May of last year, he vetoed a bill aimed at giving same-sex partners the same end-of-life rights as married couples.

In December of 2009, he backtracked from pro-gay legislation that he signed, claiming that the bill would led to third-graders being taught by "cross-dressing" teachers.

No doubt Pawlenty's mind is on the 2004 election, when anti-gay marriage amendments sent conservative voters to the polls and gave President Bush a second term.

Someone should inform Pawlenty that the lgbt community aren't exactly as compliant as we were back then. And we won't wait until someone uses us as scapegoats before we fight back.

In other words, if Pawlenty thinks he is going to get to the White House on the backs of the lgbt community, someone told him wrong.

Related posts:

Perhaps anti-gay hate groups should put a muzzle on Bryan Fischer

Family Research Council's 'we are not a hate group' campaign gets destroyed on two fronts

American Family Association will not confront reason why its considered a hate group

Hat tip to PFAW for providing the list of Fischer's comments.

Daniel Hernandez gives a lesson of reality vs. lies

I agree with President Obama's assessment during his speech last night regarding Daniel Hernandez. Hernandez, for those who aren't aware, was the intern of Congresswoman Gifford who rushed to her side after she was shot and stopped her from bleeding to death.

Whether he wants to reject the title or not, Hernandez is a hero.

More than that, his example of bravery is something to remind us of the general and basic goodness of lgbts when we have to deal with things like so:

The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution (AIDS)." - Pat Buchanan

Homosexuality will always be a sexual perversion. And you say that around here now and everybody goes nuts. But I don't care. They're mean. They want to talk about being nice. They're the meanest buggers I have ever seen. - Chris Buttars, Utah legislator

The "alphas" in homosexual relationships, be they men or women, are many times recruiting younger partners. A vast percentage of those who enter the homosexual life do so after having been sexually initiated by an older person of their sex – be it consensual or not – it usually has the feel of enticement or seduction - conservative activist Kevin McCullough

When people have views supporting homosexuality, they should not be involved with youth in any way, period. Here’s why:
• They will provide inaccurate, misleading information to kids;
• They may limit a student’s opportunity to hear warnings about the behavior;
• They may advocate or model inappropriate behavior;
• They may be directly involved in the molestation of kids themselves; or
• They may be in a position to allow others to do so - Linda Harvey

There is nothing "conservative" about "one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it 'love' - Matt Barber

In fact, most mothers are more concerned with protecting their children from homosexual activists, who insist on their supposed 'right' to propagandize young schoolchildren. - Peter LaBarbera

Hernandez serves to remind us just who are the haters and who are the ones with love in their hearts.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Palin learns the price of constantly being on the attack

I think that Sarah Palin is getting a lot of undeserved criticism.

But I don't feel sorry for her.

Palin's dilemma reminds me of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a show renowned for its twist endings. In particular, the episode with the criminal who gets away with the crimes he did commit but is jailed for the one crime that he had nothing to do with.

Palin's popularity relied on her reputation for pushing the envelope, being gung-ho, and constantly on the attack. From her speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention to her tour around the country for the Tea Party Movement, Palin and her supporters enjoyed her "take no prisoners" style and reaped off of the criticism of said style.

But now things have turned. Palin is learning what happens when you throw out words like "revolution" and "don't retreat, reload." To her, words pushing imagery of violent overthrow were supposed to be taken as figurative descriptions, reflecting how people should vote.

To the man who caused the Arizona massacre, Jared Loughner, words like that are meant to be taken literally with much collateral damage.

In the confusion of the aftermath, very few - , whether they were people who were eager to attack Palin or those simply trying to find solutions in the wake of the tragedy - were interested in sorting out just who was figurative and who was literal.

So while I think we should all take this lesson in - especially the media and public figures - regarding the words we use, this should especially be a lesson for Palin.

Sometimes it's not good to be perceived as always being on the hunt. It's not good to constantly want to dig elbow deep in red meat.

Not because some maniac might take you seriously, but simply because those who are assessing the actions of the maniac may group you with him, even if he wasn't listening to you in the first place.