Thursday, December 29. 2005Voting with Dollars
So I'm sure you heard about Ford's retraction - or in their words - reaffirmation of their position. If not, here's their letter to the GLBT organizations that met with them, and here's the Human Rights Campaign's take on it. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that it was indeed a business decision on the part of Jaguar and Land Rover (let's face it, these are mid-life crisis, small penis, straight man cars anyway), and that the ads with all eight Ford lines is a nice goodwill gesture. While I was on HRC's site, I also noticed this nifty little buying guide that they prepped before the holiday season. Beyond the fact that the page from which you can download the guide disturbingly headlines with the words "Buying for Equality," all of this business about business left me with all kinds of economical thoughts - and I don't mean spare ones, I mean thoughts about actual moolah. Continue reading "Voting with Dollars" Wednesday, December 28. 2005'TransAmerica': some thoughts from a trans American "TransAmerica" is a road movie with a twist, a kind of psycho-sexual picaresque about sexuality and gender identity in the early twenty-first century United States.I must admit I was a bit skeptical of the idea of a female playing a transsexual woman, particularly Felicity Huffman, who I think is a very good actor, but when I heard she was playing the lead role, I wondered if they picked her because of the "Desperate Housewives" fame -- and oddly enough, her character in the film is named 'Bree' (though not surnamed 'Vandekamp'), even though of course she plays Lynette in "Housewives". But I was really impressed by this film, written and directed by Duncan Tucker. Huffman is really convincing (if that's the right word here) as a male-to-female transsexual (MTF TS). My only reservation is that the film is a little too 'medical model of transsexuality' for me -- with an implicit GID (Gender Identity Disorder) pathologizing of the "I feel like a woman trapped in a man's body" kind. Having said that, "TransAmerica" is, in my view, one of the best feature films I've seen with a transgender theme; perhaps not quite as powerful as "Boys Don't Cry", but unlike that film, the central character is not a victim, but rather an ordinary transgendered woman feeling her way toward self-empowerment. Continue reading "'TransAmerica': some thoughts from a trans American" Saturday, December 24. 2005From Sexy to Mischievious- Gay Porn Star Goes Clean Joseph with his clean-shaven head pictured second from left Gay adult film star and internet porn entrepreneur Joey Verro has apparently found a new way to expose himself on the Internet. He's re-branded himself as Joseph (the dancer), put some clothes on (but taken off his shirt a lot), and gathered a few friends (David, Edward, and Tommy) to start a lip-synching band called The Mischievious Boys, complete with a series of homemade G-rated lip-synching videos. The self-made internet porn entrepreneur and web developer rose to online porn fame in the late 1990s featuring himself on a website he called Sexy Boy and starred in the porn videos "Thai One On" and "Asian Men Do!" from Catalina Video.  Piggybacking on the popularity of the Asian Backstreet Boys video the Mischievious Boys are fast becoming a bit of viral sensation on sites like You Tube and Google Video, where you can also screen popular videos like The Rat Monster. Joseph loves the spotlilght and it really shows when you watch The Mischievious Boys as he eagerly works his way to the front of the group like Diana Ross did with the Supremes. And any one who's ever visited any of Joey's, I mean, Joseph's previous sites knows that they guy just can't seem to stay away from the Internet limelight. You can still see a few variations of his Joey Verro Sexy Boy Website on the Internet Archive (most are under 2001) or you can check out the new Sexy Boy Joseph website. Some may say he's addicted to the attention or that he's a narcissist but I'll leave that for you to decide. I happen to like the new cleaned up Jospeh with his friends in tow. They like they're having fun, so I say keep dancing. Oh, and hey Joseph we love the smile! Friday, December 23. 2005Poland Elects Anti-Gay President The homophobic former mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczynski (pictured at far left with his twin brother) was sworn in as Poland's president Friday. His anti-gay stance prompted the European Union to issue a statement saying "Poland could lose its EU voting rights if its newly elected president continues to oppose gay rights and seeks to introduce the death penalty, the European Commission warned yesterday." As mayor of Warsaw the staunch conservative and devout Catholic Kaczynski twice banned the Equality Parade calling it "sexually obscene" then authorized a Normality parade in which Polish youth shouted slogans inciting intolerance and homophobia. Tuesday, December 20. 2005What Isn't Queer? LGBT Rights, Social Justice and Politics Writ Large Introducing Pauline Park, Big Queer Blog-gerAs a transgendered woman of color, my politics are unapologetically progressive, and for me, what defines the practice of progressive politics is the ability to make connections. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues are all too often defined narrowly, to include the pursuit of juridical rights, such as through legislation and litigation guaranteeing same-sex marriage and protection from discrimination. I've spent the last nine years pursuing transgender rights and working for the empowerment of the communities of which I am a member, including the LGBT/queer API community and the LGBT community in the borough of Queens. But I locate my LGBT activism in the context of a broader vision of social justice and social change. That context includes politics writ large, so I hope to offer some thoughts on this site about current affairs beyond what is narrowly conceived of as 'LGBT,' including the big debates on public policy and foreign policy now taking place on the blogosphere and elsewhere in the 'public square.' And my interests go beyond politics, to include history, music and the arts, philosophy and spirituality. So I'll be offering thoughts on all of these and more, offer a queer perspective on everything of interest to queer people. I look forward to blogging on this site and to getting your feedback on my posts as well. Cherchez la femme~! Wednesday, December 14. 2005Stop US Congress from Criminalizing Gay CouplesGay Marriage in South Korea Judge Chung Jae-oh of South Korea has recentlly published a paper calling for Sourth Korea to legalize same-sex mariage and end discrimination.The paper comes at the heels of a recent Seoul High Court decision to deny alimony to a woman from her lesbian partner on the grounds that "cohabitation of same-sex couples could not be regarded as a virtual marriage. " Source:GCN Ireland Friday, December 9. 2005F.U.C.K.U.S.A.A.O.K. or The Pursuit of Queer Joy Does anybody else think this country sucks?Why do we live in America? Why do we fight to have our rights protected? Why do we fight to have our rights recognized? Why fight to have it recognized that they were taken away and how they were taken and by whom? Why fight? Why struggle? Maybe to make this country a “better place” a “freer place.” But presumably if the brave people of the Land of the Free wanted to include us, they would have already done so. If we moved to Spain we could get married to whomever and our rights would be protected by law. If we moved to the Netherlands the same would hold true. If we moved to South Africa we could marry within a year. Hell, we could drive up to Canada, apply for citizenship and have more freedom than the freedom we’re fighting for down here. Assuming we're "fighting." Maybe we're just whining. After all, if the ship is really sinking, why not paddle for shore? Why stay? Because we don’t suffer enough. We are not persecuted in the ways people in other countries are persecuted, nor tortured in those ways. No. We can go to work, provided we aren’t fired from our jobs for being queer, which in most states is admissible. We can make money. We have buying power. We can buy things. Holiday presents and garlands and mistletoe and brandy and cinnamon cookies. So we don’t suffer nearly enough to prompt us to leave. We don't bleed because we're queer. We don't die in the streets, there is no Aushwitz for queers. And our desire for equality doesn’t trump our capitalistically induced contentment. If we couldn’t shop, couldn’t hold jobs, couldn’t live under a roof, couldn’t go to school, maybe we would leave, become exiles in another nation. Continue reading "F.U.C.K.U.S.A.A.O.K. or The Pursuit of Queer Joy" Are Fags the New 'Tards?
That kind of talk makes me wonder whether the Hollywood It-ness of all things queer has finally propelled gayness to that lofty place formerly reserved for the mentally ill. Remember the '80's, '90's, and even the early '00's and Hollywood's efforts in awakening empathy for the mentally ill, reshaping the "drooling crazy" into Dustin Hoffman looking cuddly in pajamas? Actors took on everything from Rain Man to Radio in the hopes of being proclaimed Master Thespians and getting Oscar gold. "I am Sam," proclaimed Sean Penn as Jodie "Nell" Foster waved like a "tay" in the "win'" and Billy Bob Thornton slung his blade. Oh yeah, and remember how we all thought Leonardo DiCaprio would be the next Brando because he was so good at playing autistic Arnie Grape to Jonny Depp's Gilbert? Continue reading "Are Fags the New 'Tards?" Tuesday, December 6. 2005Ford built not-so tough |
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I really should have followed up on all of the 
At the end of Joel Siegel's piece 
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