06/05/2008
News: David Beckham, Estrogen, Gambia, Rupert Everett, Alzheimer's
Is estrogen the secret to containing the spread of HIV?
Seconds, please: Is David Beckham the hottest waiter of all time?
The two Spanish nationals detained late last week in the west African country of Gambia have been released: "Two Spanish men detained in Gambia for allegedly making homosexual proposals to taxi drivers have been released after five days in jail, a Spanish official said Wednesday. The men were released late Tuesday and left the West African country, said Nicola El Busto, an official with Spain's embassy in Gambia. El Busto declined to give further details, and Gambian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment."
Gossip Girl couple shops, scowls.
Redwood City, CA man who hurled gay slurs, patio table at neighbors, pleads not guilty in court: "Herbert Santos-Coy is facing multiple felony hate crime charges after he allegedly physically attacked his two neighbors on March 30. If convicted he faces up to eight years in state prison, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office. Santos-Coy was arrested by Redwood City police after he allegedly came into the carport where the couple was working on their car and began yelling homophobic slurs at them, according to the district attorney's office. He then repeatedly struck one of the victims in the face and swung a wrought iron table at the couple, which missed, according to prosecutors. When police arrived, Santos-Coy resisted arrest, according to police. He was allegedly drinking at the time of the altercation."
In California, assemblyman Mark Leno is expected to become the first openly gay state Senator in California history.
Does Brad Pitt have good taste in tables?
Wisconsin Supreme Court calls suit brought against gay group by Christian activist Reverend Grant Storms frivolous: "Anti-gay activist Rev. Grant Storms of New Orleans sued gay rights group Action Wisconsin after it took excerpts from a 2003 speech Storms made in Milwaukee and claimed he was advocating the murder of gays. Storms' lawsuit was dismissed in 2005, and he was ordered to pay court costs and attorneys' fees. The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld that decision, which had been reversed by an appeals court. The high court's 4-3 decision means Storms' attorney James Donohoo will have to pay more than $87,000 in court costs and fees because the court said he should have known the lawsuit was frivolous."
There must be something about the name Kern.
An interview with Banksy?
Alzheimer's patients are kept from wandering off from a German nursing home by a fake bus stop outside the center: "It sounds funny but it helps. Our members are 84 years old on average. Their short-term memory hardly works, but the long-term memory is still active. They know the green and yellow bus sign and remember that waiting there means they will go home. We will approach them and say that the bus is coming later and invite them in for a coffee. Five minutes later they have completely forgotten they wanted to leave."
That lesbian kiss at Safeco field in Seattle I posted about last month is getting a lot more attention. Sirbrina Guerrero, who was almost kicked out for it, is now speaking out.
Rosie O'Donnell and Howard Stern had a little chat yesterday.
Six in ten Americans say same-sex marriage a private choice that should not be regulated by the government: "As same-sex couples line up to get marriage licenses in California on June 17, the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll found that 63% of adults say same-sex marriage is 'strictly a private decision' between two people. That the government has the right 'to prohibit or allow' such marriages was stated by 33%, and 4% had no opinion."
Religious Knesset members initiate amendment to ban gay pride in Jerusalem.
Rupert Everett's anti-American rant: "I'm totally off the States now. The reaction to 9/11 and then George Bush - really, they've got very blobby as a nation. Now they (the Americans) are whiny victims whose language is entirely taken from two TV shows - Friends and Sex And The City - and there's nothing sexy about them any more. And that kind of semi-blindness about the rest of the world, which was attractive when America was exciting, is really unattractive now."
Posted 1:55 PM EST by Andy Towle in AIDS/HIV, Banksy, Brad Pitt, California, Crime, David Beckham, Israel, Jerusalem, Kiss, News, Penn Badgley, Rosie O'Donnell, Rupert Everett, Seattle, Spain, The Gambia, Wisconsin | Permalink
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Even if Rupert is right, I plan to make the best of it. I've got nowhere else to go.
Posted by: JJ | Jun 5, 2008 3:41:20 PM
I don't really get how the estrogen is meant to be implemented as a prevention method.
Basically, it makes your skin somewhat less permeable. Well, that may decrease infection on a population level, but it wouldn't exactly be ethical to present it as a form of prevention on the individual level -- a "less permeable" barrier is no barrier at all, it just gives you somewhat better odds in Russian Roulette.
Posted by: thin mint | Jun 5, 2008 4:45:53 PM
Isnt that woman in the lesbian kissing/Safeco field incident also the slutty lesbian from A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila on MTV?
Posted by: Chris in Seattle | Jun 5, 2008 4:51:18 PM
Rupert Everett? I thought he was dead. Oh excuse me, that was just his career.
Posted by: Andrew | Jun 5, 2008 5:17:44 PM
@KYLE and others: as a non-American, let me try to explain. After 9/11 we felt your pain and grief, and there was an outpouring of support from the world. When your administration opportunistically used it to commit war crimes, the world said, "well that's NOT the American people. We still love them." The shift happened when you democratically RE-ELECTED THE M*THERF*CKER. Then the rest of the world said, "You know what? F*ck 'em all." But I wish you well, and support you in finally gaining basic Civil Rights. (*cough* that we've had in marriage for 5 years, and in the army for 10...*cough*).
Posted by: Strepsi | Jun 5, 2008 6:01:53 PM
There is no difference between Americans and their government. It's still vestigially a republic around here (and only nuts speak of oligarchy.) Americans vote for these very poor leaders and support them. Privately, more Americans are racist, anti-homosexual, and xenophobic than they would admit to a pollster. I would like to live elsewhere, but I'm a 56 year old has-been and I'm financially stuck here.
Posted by: Gary | Jun 5, 2008 6:30:23 PM
to strepsi: i think you should be more thankful for living in a country where you have those rights and compassionate for those of us who weren't born to such things - and gloat less about your privileged status among the world's gays - it really is in poor taste you know, i mean, do you think that american gays are personally responsible for being treated as second-class citizens (much less those poor buggers in africa)? and are you somehow personally to thank for gay rights laws in your country? it really is just the luck of the draw.
Posted by: rouquinricain | Jun 5, 2008 6:38:31 PM
Rouquinricain: Yes, I actually AM partially responsible for the gay laws in my country. I have marched and pamphleted and voted and kicked up a stink for decades. I also came to help you, with many friends, to the March On Washington in '93 (am still pissed at Bill Clinton for DADT, by the way). The problem is I see too many Americans -- including on THIS BLOG -- accepting the back-of-the-bus and not insisting on equality. The Christian Right is incredibly aggressive and organized and lets everyone know it. So, in that sense, yes you are partially responsible for being as second-class citizens if you do not INSIST on FULL equality. Where's the drag queen Rosa Parks? People say "The U.S. is progressing, just more slowly, it takes time"... BULL. Your States have passed 26 PRO-DISCRIMINATION laws in 5 years -- it is officially moving BACKWARDS. As for the poor buggers in places like Egypt, Jamaica, or Saudi Arabia, you're right there... God bless them.
Posted by: Strepsi | Jun 5, 2008 7:07:43 PM
Ruppert who? An actor? Why have I not seen any of his movies? Does he perform in "reality" shows, which I do not watch?
Posted by: rudy | Jun 5, 2008 7:17:47 PM
KYLE...the reason I said that Rupert Everett is exactly right is that I totally agree with his assessment that Americans went completely out of their minds following September 11. The events of that day were horrific. There were thousands of lives that were tragically lost. Many of those who died in the World Trade Center suffered terribly before the building collapsed. It was a terrible thing to happen to those individuals, their families and our nation. But we have acted as though September 11 was the single worst thing that has ever happened to any population/nation in the history of the world.
The fact of the matter is that countries all around the world have been plagued by terrorism for decades. Many people around the world carry on with their daily activities knowing they might be blown to bits at the market, at their job or while walking down the street. Few Americans live with that fear on a day-to-day basis. Until September 11 we were largely spared the sort of violence that other countries endure on a regular, if not daily, basis.
But rather than taking a reasoned, informed and cautious approach to the problem, our government invaded a country that had NOTHING to do with the events of September 11. Our leaders lied about the reasons for going to war. In ousting Saddam Hussein, who without a doubt was a bad guy, we ended up de-stabilizing the middle east. We've now made it less safe for the entire WORLD! As Rupert Everett said, we suffer "a semi-blindness about the rest of the world".
And after all that, we ELECTED the motherfuckers to four more years in 2004?!?! It's no wonder much of the world hates us. Our government acted illegally, stirring up even more trouble and forever altering a nation that wasn't even involved in attacking the U.S. And we are the ones that let them get away with it.
And STREPSI is correct...the U.S. is not progressing at a slow pace. It is regressing to a climate like that of Virginia before the Loving case hit the Supreme Court.
It is my opinion that the U.S. is filled with racists, religious zealots and homophobes. The combination of racism and religious zealotry resulted in an illegal war in which tens of thousands have died (if not more...and no one knows the real number because our government does not count dead Iraqis).
Finally, HOWARD's comment shines a light on the sort of country that the U.S. is...with one caveat...I don't believe HOWARD could even visit the U.S. without special permission due to his HIV status. Barbaric. Cruel. Intolerant.
Posted by: peterparker | Jun 5, 2008 8:23:29 PM
I think what the aging prostitute meant to say was "My career never took off in America, so the topic makes me bitter(er)."
Posted by: paul | Jun 5, 2008 9:16:31 PM
Hey Gary: your comment "Privately, more Americans are racist, anti-homosexual, and xenophobic than they would admit to a pollster. I would like to live elsewhere" could be used in almost every country i've ever lived in. (I'm an expat US citizen abroad). Yeah, we are every thing you said. And so is everywhere else. Koreans are not xenophobic? Egyptians aren't homophobic? I mean, if we're talking in sweeping generalizations, most every country can say your same quote back to you. After people vent their hatred of America, they'll also usually (in my experience) admit to wanting to come here. We fascinate the rest of the world (Pam Anderson's tits, Las Vegas's debauchery, NYC's skyline, college dorms that are co-ed, etc.)and we're one of the few countries that accept people from around the world. So lighten up a bit, we're a work in progress & always have been.
Posted by: Daniel | Jun 5, 2008 11:58:20 PM
Sheila Kuehl has been an openly gay California State Senator since she was elected there in 2000, the same year she addressed the Democratic National Convention on issues of diversity. Get in line Mark Leno! Sheila is FIERCE.
Posted by: mattb | Jun 6, 2008 2:23:36 AM
Hey Kile re: "a sweeping generalization about an entire group of people because of their leader. "
It's a lot more than that. Tried entering your country lately as a non-National, even from an allied country, with a green-card? It was bad before 9/11 and got much worse afterwards. Your country's official representatives took the enormous feeling of international goodwill post 9/11 and returned it with lies and hate.
Posted by: mike | Jun 6, 2008 2:54:01 AM
What possible reason would anyone have for not loving us unconditionally?
Shun the unbeliever!
Posted by: Nonplussed | Jun 6, 2008 9:29:45 AM
You know? It's precisely this habitual knee-jerk tendency to smear, blacklist and lynch our critics (even those whose countrymen have died in supporting our own), that makes us look so bad to the world.
Posted by: Nonplussed | Jun 6, 2008 10:54:32 AM
Few governments with the means take measures to protect the lives and interests of their citizens to such an extent, while generously giving of their wealth, influence, and of the lives of their militaries to aid, defend and esteem humanity throughout world. Even the gay marriage ruling (although an indicator of inequality) is a refinement made possible by—and a testament to—effective government.
Posted by: premium310 | Jun 6, 2008 1:45:51 PM
Fuck that bitch and the 3rd rate country she comes from!
Posted by: angrycitizen | Jun 6, 2008 1:47:28 PM
STREPSI: I think it's debatable whether he was democratically re-elected, or elected for that matter in the first place. And really, blaming the victims, despite your claims of activism, you show a real lack of sensitivity, and are incredibly cavalier, as if where you're from is somehow perfect.
As for this whole issue, there's nothing shocking about Everett's gross generalization, neither in its content, nor it speaker. It's pretty much what I would expect him to say.
Posted by: Richard | Jun 6, 2008 5:03:48 PM
Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
Rupert Everett.
Rupert Everett, who?
Posted by: socal | Jun 7, 2008 3:58:42 AM