03/08/2006
Male kissing billboard censored in Sao Paulo.
Gay activists plaster downtown Boise, Idaho with "Heterosexuals Only" stickers to mirror the "Whites Only" and "Coloreds Only" signs of pre-Civil Rights America.
Despite the fact that it's clearly vandalism, no arrests have been made.
Activist: "You could make the case we were littering, or doing something more aggressive. Realistically, we have to be worried because there is some risk. I think we all have come together and decided the risk is worth taking a stand. I hope people will realize this...is a model of resistance that falls into a historical basis and they won't decide to be extremely punitive." (via omg)
Sarah Jessica Parker seems like a good mother. She let her three-year-old kid watch selected scenes from Brokeback because he liked the sheep in the pictures. What happened later? "We put it on and selected about twenty minutes for him to watch. When it was over he went over to his nanny and gave her a big hug. I asked why and he said, so innocently and sweetly, 'Because, that is what the two cowboys were always doing in the movie. They loved each other.'"
Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man on an iPod?
Tom Cruise should take a few lessons from Keanu Reeves, whose measured response to the long-ago rumors that he'd "married" David Geffen eventually faded away. Said Keanu: "In that case, it comes down to making a judgment about being gay or not. I try not to live my life by what other people say . . . People were gossiping about what the king and queen were doing way back when. It's just human nature. We like talking about other people."
Jerry Falwell to Soulforce Equality Riders: Stay away!
Posted 4:55 PM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
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Yes, a nice response from Keanu...until he elevates himself to royalty and kings and queens. Dude, like, ur so not royalty.
Posted by: cafegogo | Mar 8, 2006 5:27:42 PM
Well.. I'll take Keanu over Tom any day, royalty or not.
Love that Fallwell's University is in 'Lynchburg'
Posted by: Greg | Mar 8, 2006 5:56:55 PM
Whoa.
Posted by: Tread | Mar 8, 2006 5:58:16 PM
Sarah Jessica Parker has "Brokeback Mountain" DVD at her home? Geez, how did she get that? It's not on DVD yet, is it?
Posted by: kevin | Mar 8, 2006 7:43:44 PM
The difference between Keanu and Tom is that whatever their sexualities, Keanu is comfortable enough for himself, and Tom - gay or straight - just isn't.
Looks like Scientology doesn't do much to help its members come to terms with themselves after all. Oh wait, it never did.
Posted by: Andrew K | Mar 8, 2006 7:50:01 PM
Kevin, Sarah and her husband are members of the academy so thus they get copies of current movies for voting purposes.
Posted by: David | Mar 8, 2006 8:34:21 PM
Sarah Jessica Parker probably has an Academy screener copy of Brokeback Mountain.
Posted by: Rob | Mar 8, 2006 8:39:16 PM
That's funny because I could have sworn I saw a bunch of people in the BBM thread claiming the reason Crash won is because that company sent DVD's to the member and the company that put out BBM didn't.
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Mar 8, 2006 9:30:38 PM
The rumor is that the Brokeback people sent the screeners dvds through out the country relatively early while the Crash people sent the majority of their screener dvds to LA because the Academy has a lot of actors and generally LA based actors and the majority of academy members such as directors, screen writers etc are LA based.
Posted by: Redrick | Mar 8, 2006 11:08:18 PM
Considering I watched Brokeback Mountain on a screener copy the first time I saw it, I'd say that you're wrong, Chad.
Posted by: Rob | Mar 8, 2006 11:09:37 PM
I made no declarative statement. The only claim I've made is that I read what someone else wrote so are you saying those statements I references are wrong or I'm wrong in that I misread what I referenced? Speak more clearly please.
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Mar 8, 2006 11:30:26 PM
I am not sure about the heterosexual only signs
i get the historical refference and on that basis would consider it a great way to protest
BUT, the majority of americans are ignorant of history. Sad, but true...and many (too many) homophobes might actualy like the idea...they might not know it is gays putting the signs up but rather their own xtian hate mongers...
Hmmm I don't seem to be able to word my unease about it....Sorry...just rambeling
But something about it probably won't work in the way it was intended
Too many are ignorant of history
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Mar 8, 2006 11:48:43 PM
If the sign flushes out the real homophobes then it's served a purpose. If the historical perspective is lost on modern day America then now is as good a time as any to educate them.
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Mar 8, 2006 11:53:21 PM
true chad
But too many don't want to be educated
the same ones who are ignorant of history do not want to be told about it.......
basicaly i feel this form of protest is TOO cerebral for americans
I must point out that america now ranks 12 spots lower in education than poland a former soviet satelite and barely 2nd world country, and we are slipping farther down faster
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Mar 8, 2006 11:58:28 PM
Few forms of protest can be too cerebral. Don't validate stupidity over education. If people want to cover their eyes & ears don't that's their responsibility, not the person doing the dance in front of them.
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Mar 9, 2006 12:08:02 AM
Minus that second "don't".
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Mar 9, 2006 12:09:39 AM
hmmmmmmmm
i don't know
i personaly get it and think it is great...but i just don't know.....It is simply
ignorant americans= a funky gut feeling I am having that the protest will simply slip right over the heads of those that they/we wish to affect
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Mar 9, 2006 12:13:01 AM
They'll get it eventually and what's more others will get it first and view those late bloomers with appropriate mockery.
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Mar 9, 2006 12:18:13 AM
I must admit that as a world-travelled Canadian, with decades of travel in the States, it still is difficult to understand the changes in the American psyche in that time.
True, the average American seems to mimic the Canadian/European/Latin American penchant for food preparation and vogue while bicycling or performing feats both physical and sedentary. Yet, as Jay Leno always points out, the dumbing down of information to the average American citizen is pandemic. Photographs of their leaders are unrecognisable. American history knowledge is abysmal.
The Latin American module is being imported throughout the northern hemisphere. It is the reality of the fascist state with a few families in total control of wealth, treasure, and land, while a small educated professional class serve their needs with some benefits of the former bourgoisie, and the majority of undereducated, underinformed and underaware degrees of poverty and ignorance.
Like in Latin America, as long as the beer and rotgut wine is cheap, and plentiful - and our version of contact sports are televised, the old Roman Empire dictum of "Panem et Circenses" (Bread and Circuses) is in play.
Where does the LGBT American fit in? You are the foil used by the Right Wing, theocon or secular neocon, to address the need for a "scapegoat" for the condition that the fascists have imposed.
It takes a few generations of a banana fascist state for those who once tasted freedom to go to their graves. At that point, there is no longer a living institutional memory to counteract it.
Welcome to NOW
Posted by: Raymond | Mar 9, 2006 6:21:50 AM
That thing about the Pac games should probably read "Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man on a hacked linux based iPod?" I got all excited when I first read it :P Then get to the story and know it will never be for me!
And re the stickers protest, I kind of like it, the fact that it points out that society changes to reflect the needs of the people and to include people.
There's still times when I'm reading about intollerance, that I slap my head and wonder why don't they get it.
Then I watched that Oprah show about "When you first knew" with Carson Kressley and to hear Oprah ask something along the lines of "When did you first become attacted to other males?" Shows that even she doesn't get that for a lot of us we just always knew we were gay, so when we run parallel development to straight people. - Now I'm rambling.
But suffice it to say, it will be better when they stop looking at we Gays as "The Gays" and just note that we are just ordinary folk.
Posted by: Tyroga | Mar 9, 2006 6:21:50 AM
Screw it. Let the signs stay up, identifiable as historic commentary or not. As that dickwad in Washington would say, this is a war.
Posted by: Jacko | Mar 9, 2006 6:35:42 AM
Well said, Raymond.
Know anyone I can marry in your beautiful land?! I'm tired of living in a country that is so despised by the rest of the world that I don't feel comfortable travelling (a true joy to me), has no love and puts up with administration so blatantly corrupt it's beyond belief. I need humor daily and rarely get it here.
I'm cute and very, uh, talented. ;-)
Posted by: The Puckster | Mar 9, 2006 1:58:05 PM
Dear Puckster -
Believe it or not - of course, marriage is the way that now both same and opposite sex couples can immigrate legally into Canada.
But, of course, it must be a match that is not predicated upon bypassing normal immigration criteria. In other words, you must really have a marriage.
That having been said, we have had, for about three years, several Canadian organisations that assist US citizens in taking the modern "Underground Railroad" from fascism to freedom.
Mirroring the fact that the world Jewish organisations prior and during and after WWII did what they could to care for their own primarily - we have many programmes that assist in this endeavour.
May I first suggest the premier website. It is www.samesexmarriage.ca . Our friends were the first couple to legally marry in the modern era. It will take you hours to peruse - and yet, for someone interested in finding either legal front or back doors into Canada, the information is indispensable.
Oh - please remember, that Canadians understand body language. We know, for example, that you propose marriage on ONE knee. You will find that we are equally talented and understand the universal raison d'etre for TWO knees.
Posted by: Raymond | Mar 10, 2006 5:13:34 AM
All-
As a result of a few emails, please let me clarify some issues addressed in them.
You are a single gay or lesbian person. You have the necessary documents to visit Canada. Our major cities are Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver....but many other tourist destinations are wonderfull.
In 2006, all you need to prove US citizenship is your birth certificate and a photo ID from a state source. In 2007, you will need a passport. Are you channelling the Berlin Wall, eh ?
You have a such a good time, that you spend all your free holiday time in the " True North, Strong and Free... You make friends, and join some emigre organisations. You take the time to contact gay immigration centres, and see if you are able to immigrate on your own steam, as it were..
But Cupid's arrow finds it mark. You are truly in love, and the Canadian citizen wants to marry you. You marry legally in any province or territory in the country. You then become a first preference alien for landed immigrancy status. You leave Canada for a brief time, and then re-enter with your Canadian spouse as a landed immigrant. You then fullfill the requirements for Canadian citizenship over a period of several years.
Please know that it is difficult to immigrate to any nation. Canada is easier than the USA - and unlike the USA, you have legal marriage rights in our country that translate into priority status. We always want to unite married couples.
BUT, any pseudo-marriage is illegal and is felonious activity for both of you. Leave that ploy to those without a moral compass.
Besides, we have hotties in Canada to warm those frigid Canadian winters.
Posted by: Raymond | Mar 10, 2006 3:04:09 PM
Thanks Raymond-- you're a hoot.
Posted by: The Puckster | Mar 10, 2006 3:52:31 PM