Michael Jackson dies at 50
Whatever else he was, Michael Jackson will always be a tragic figure to me. Phenomenally talented and by all counts a sensitive soul, let us hope that whatever demons he wrestled have died with him.
Rest in peace, Michael.
Joe waxes eloquent…again.
Joe.My.God (re)posts his annual response to the hand-wringing that invariably follows Pride season. Folk with assimilationist tendencies fret about the "freak show" that can only hurt our chances to be accepted by society at large. Joe does an excellent job of responding to such impulses and I couldn't agree more. I would only add that I say to them the same thing I say to Christian whack jobs who get their panties all in a knot about homosexuality: If you don't think it's "right" then don't do it, but don't you dare presume to tell anyone else they shouldn't/can't.
Oh, you could test run a "defective" free parade. You could form urban anti-tranny squads and go around to all the gayborhoods on the morning of the parade and give all the drag queens 50% off coupons for Loehmann's, offer good during the parade only. And they'd GO, of course, cuz hey, those girls love a bargain. But the resultant bland, humorless, "normal" gay parade wouldn't change the course of the gay movement one bit. The part of straight America that is repulsed by drag queens is quite possibly even more terrified by the so-called "normal" gays, because "those clever calculating creatures look JUST LIKE US, and can infiltrate and get access to our precious children. And that's been their disgusting plan all along, of course."
...I'm not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It's OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our "debauched" celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING.
Kirby on Utah Pride
It was the most polite event I've been to since I can remember. But then I wasn't a street preacher.
On the northwest corner, a couple of preachers were telling passersby they were going to hell, and in turn being told to "[deleted] off."
The one with the "Homo Sex is Sin" sign was besieged by a dozen furious lesbians, a fact I deduced partly because of how they looked but mostly because they kept saying so at the top of their lungs.
The other preacher periodically held up two female ends of electrical cord and jammed them together to show, I guess, that the fit didn't work.
Neither did the object lesson. For me, it begged all sorts of gospel imponderables about biblically approved amps, volts, etc. Is Heaven 220 or 110? Are power strips brothels or plural marriage?
Because you’re gay, dummy…
I saw Swan Lake at the Vienna Opera House when I was on my mission. I left somewhat underwhelmed and haven't been really big on ballet ever since. Maybe it was because we were in the stehplaetze (standing places) and even with rails to lean on, three hours is a damn long time to be standing—they're super cheap and in the old emperor's box so the view of the stage is superb—or maybe it was because there were too many girls....
I think I could have stood and watched that for three hours. Perhaps I begin to understand why so many people gush about Swan Lake now.
I had a similar experience a while back with a movie called Another Gay Movie. I've tried watching similar adolescent hijinks movies and always found them boring and unfunny. I turned American Pie off after about 15 minutes. Another Gay Movie? As my little brother would say, "I was cramping." Yes, it was adolescent. Yes, it was predictable, but I laughed out loud several times and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
A gay man (or woman) spends most of his (or her) life swimming against the hetero-current of society. When one occasionally finds a gay eddy in which to rest, it's a wonderful respite.
Traditional Family Values
It's funny. I was actually thinking about this very thing the other day. "Traditional" family values...well which tradition? As Betty points out, there are so many to choose from!
HT: Joe. My. God.