Israeli minister overrules council: Jerusalem Pride parade a go.
Did Colin Farrell canoodle with a drag queen at the Versace mansion?
Jerusalem bans gay pride parade. City: "It wouldn't be right to authorise the march and the related festivities in Jerusalem out of the concern that it would be provocative and hurt the feelings of the broader public living in and visiting the city."
Lamenting the state of Christopher Street: "It's just sad, seedy and that’s being generous." What's happened to the gayest street in America?
Love in Action, the "refuge" where MySpace blogger Zach was sent by his parents to cure him of homosexuality, is now being investigated by the state of Tennessee over allegations of abuse. the camps executive director said, "The Internet accusations on holding kids without their permission ... and the other crazy allegations are ridiculous." The Department of Children's Services won't say if there's a connection between the newly launched investigation and the appearance and subsequent broadcast of Zach's cry for help over the Internet.
Posted Jun. 24,2005 at 11:27 AM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
Here's hoping "Love in Action" gets shut down ASAP and the Nazis who are running it spend a little time in a state-sponsored holding facility. I for one choose to believe that blog sites like Towleroad had a helluva lot to do with drawing attention to these monsters and getting this investigation started.
Posted by: kimmer | Jun 24, 2005 1:23:27 PM
I agree about Christopher Street -- I walk up it every day after work to get the subway and it is starting to get seedy. It's hard to blame it on the street kids and not sound like a jerk, but they can be really crude, loud and rather intimidating. I just wish that the person cited in the article would quit chanting the same mantra of how much better the city was in the 70s and 80s. You've a right to your opinion, but be here now.
Posted by: Ed Aycock | Jun 24, 2005 1:38:19 PM
I agree, I'm glad to see the critical attention focused on "Love in Action." From everything I've read there's very little love in that organization. It's the same old brick wall of reality that the "Christians" (so called) keep running into. When they can't plead with people into "changing their ways" (which is impossible to begin with) they try to beat conformity out of them. "Christians" need to seriously re-evaluate themselves and what they claim to stand for. Their ugly, hate filled bigotry towards our community is revealing exactly how weak their actual arguments really are. How a religion that claims to stand for peace and love can be so driven by anger and hate needs to be examined by society at large and Christianity's standing as a "legitimate" religion needs to be reconsidered.
Posted by: Robert | Jun 24, 2005 2:20:26 PM
dear andy....
after my experience on many occasions, the sit in jerusalem is not surprising vis a vis denial in palestinian issues let alone the attitude in some that borders on "aryan exclusion" or "pure race" notions....nonetheless, one can question the inclusion separated from khakified commodification that has saturated an atmosphere of diverse cooperation.....rather than being coopted like once grand, colorfully detailed and stately buildings on the upper-west side.
Posted by: Richard Rennie | Jun 24, 2005 2:38:25 PM
Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on Zach's story and Refuge. I'd recommend doing an e-mail campaign for those who can't attend a march. I looked up their web site and found this e-mail address: info@loveinaction.org.
Posted by: Inter|textual | Jun 24, 2005 3:24:27 PM
More on the Refuge: they've made an appeal for tolerance - for themselves - while not saying even if Zach is on the "course" or not.
I really hope there's an bit of law covering detaining someone against their will that covers this. But more importantly, what happens when Zach is released? Do his parents still have legal authority over him at age 16 in the US? Here in the UK, he could walk away from them and for most purposes make his own life.
Posted by: Alan F | Jun 25, 2005 7:05:57 AM