12/14/2004
Pop Stars Make Noise
Andy Bell of Erasure comes out as HIV+. Responding to an article being discussed on a forum, he releases this statement: "Thank you to all the fans for their concern expressed on the Erasure forum over my H.I.V. status. I found out I was H.I.V. + in June 1998 when I had a bout of pneumonia in Mallorca, since then I have been taking combination therapy & I am feeling fine in fact I have never felt better. Being H.I.V. does not mean that you have a.i.d.s. My life expectancy should be the same as anyone else's' so there is no need to panic, there is still so much hysteria & ignorance surrounding H.I.V & a.i.d.s lets just get on with life i.e. making music, doing a live tour & generally having a good time. (Statement)
Elton John can't seem to help looking at his fellow pop stars with a critical eye and then opening his mouth. George Michael is now responding to an interview Elton gave in which he criciticized Michael's album Patience and said Michael needs to "get out more" among other things.
GM responds: "...to this day, most of what Elton thinks he knows about my life is pretty much limited to the gossip he hears on the 'gay grapevine' which is, as you can imagine, lovely stuff. Other than that, he knows I don't like to tour, I smoke too much pot and my albums still have a habit of going to Number One. In other words, he knows as much as most of my fans. What he doesn't know is I have rarely been as happy and confident as I am today, thanks to my partner Kenny and the continued support of my fans. If I stay at home too much, if anything it is because I am too contented right now. I have travelled the world many times and at 41, I think I have earned the right to a quiet life, which I truly love, and maybe Elton just can't relate to that."
Former New Kids on the Block singer Jordan Knight talks about a casting offer he turned down for last year's gay parenting sitcom It's All Relative. "They wanted me to play an ex-boybander. I would've played a gay guy, but (the character) was basically me. So it would've been like I was coming out of the closet. They made it out like I was running down the hallways yelling, 'I'm not gay! I'm not gay!' which was not the case. I haven't been asked to do a part since." Instead he'd prefer to dwell in the quiet closet of obscurity.
In a move that Singaporean gays are tying to the recent release of junior health minister Dr Balaji Sadasivan’s warning about a sharp rise in the number of new AIDS cases among gay men, the Singapore government refuses to issue a license for a massive party. The implication seen by gays in the region is that this signals the end to a more recent openness towards homosexuality in that repressive country.
Posted 12:45 PM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
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who knew george was a head? i'd smoke a fattie with him.
Posted by: cafegogo | Dec 14, 2004 1:35:57 PM
I have to hand it to George Michael, he seems to me to be a very real person in what is often a very unreal profession. The entertainment industry is rife with insanity, of course, and It's good to hear from George Michael that he has made some sort of benefit out of it. Contrary to popular opinion, Stardom, Fame and/or being Noteworthy isn't the panacea that many think. It's literally hell to be one of these talented people. Often you'll see the "Public" look askance at the movements of these well known people... and maybe that's a good reaction. They aren't really as simple as our media makes them out to be... there's often the smirk and the wink that goes with an "interview" on tv and in print, yet these are cold blooded people, that are in actuality downright cruel and terribly dangerous... Not to say that they aren't entertaining. LOL.
At any rate sorry for posting this much, andy... But I know one thing, that Elton John is a Hero to our community. That he is getting his nails sharpened is only the more exciting about him.
Posted by: visibleh20 | Dec 14, 2004 2:37:28 PM
That Jordan Knight was always so DREAMY ...
Posted by: Jake | Dec 14, 2004 2:50:32 PM
hello, i'm from singapore actually, and the rise in HIV positive (not AIDS, since it takes a while for HIV to manifest itself as AIDS, so you'll notice that the statement is actually rather tortuous and misleading) cases is due more to the idiotic straight men who visit prostitutes on random offshore islands and bring it back to singapore. or so we've heard from NGOs.
actually in my opinion the government needs someone to blame, and since singapore is (unfortunately) in effect still rather conservative and asian and blahblahblah, gay men are seen as strange, alien, and a bit malevolent (will our kids be led down the primrose path??) and so they're easy to identify. blame the buggers, so that the rest of 'em can feels safe at night.
that being said, singapore isn't as repressive as it sounds. while sex between two males is illegal (unnatural sex act, but hey, even oral sex between a consenting straight couple is illegal. i know that sounds horrendous), the scene here is quite advanced, the most advanced in the region probably (maybe after thailand), and it's quite similar to the situation in pre-stonewall (or just after post) america.
then again, sometimes we do get the governments we deserve; the gay community in singapore is excessively depoliticised. like, er, we have no rights, but look a pink shirt let's go clubbing now!!! but then again so are most other things in singapore.
so please! if you know more people who are gay, tell them to come to singapore and spend lotsa cash, since that's the only reason the government tolerates the gay community: economic viability. like, how dynamic and creative cities (which singapore aspires to be) such as nyc, london, sf, tend to have a higher proportion of homosexuals, so suddenly the government starts saying that it'll accept gays working in the civil service. and gay tourism is, after all, 2 to 3 percent of GDP (last i heard). nation '05 is only 8 months away!
Posted by: j. | Dec 14, 2004 7:53:24 PM
Who cares if Fridae's Snowball concert was cancelled? Fridae's totally rips off its Web writers (and yes, that is a personal axe I'm grinding).
Come spend your money in Taipei--sex between men is definately NOT illegal in Taiwan. Singapore may be clean and mean, but Taiwan's filthy and free.
Posted by: The Taipei Kid | Dec 15, 2004 7:10:05 AM