07/02/2008
News: Newsom's New Quest, Is Eating Ribs Presidential?, Boyfriends Will Be Boyfriends, It's A Rubyfruit Jungle Out There & More
Two-term San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom—famous for his support of legalizing gay marriage—launches an exploratory bid for California governor. He's expected to face opposition from a crowded field of fellow Democrats when Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger vacates in 2010.
Via Queerty: New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman has changed his position on gay marriage—thanks to the advice of his lesbian stepdaughter. He's also joined the House Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Caucus.
A special court has upheld the Nepal Army's decision to expel a woman for being a lesbian.
Two women in Iceland will become the first same-sex couple to have their relationship "validated" in a church following new laws that took hold there on June 27. The laws do not define same-sex validations as "marriage." The official who will perform the service, Rev. Sigurdur Grétar Sigurdsson, says, "In my opinion it is a very appreciated development because many priests in the State Church have already organized ceremonies for many years where they pray for and bless gay coupes who have earlier had their cohabitation confirmed by state officials."
Buzzkill: About 600 Starbucks locations will close in the next year, 70% of which opened after 2006.
The NRA will be gunning for Barack Obama's chances this fall, spending $40 million dollars to paint him as a Second Amendment foe.
Clay Felker, New York Magazine founder and husband of Gail Sheehy, dies at 82 after battling throat cancer. Felker and co-founder Milton Glaser were forced out of their jobs in 1977 by Rupert Murdoch, leading to a staff walk-out. The magazine's most famous article, "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night," was the basis for Saturday Night Fever, and its "best" lists have made it a staple for actual and aspiring New Yorkers. Amazing quotes here.
Is Bush the best president ever...on AIDS issues? (Consider the source.)
Guess which presidential candidate is the more desirable barbecue guest, according to an AP poll?
T.R. Knight and boyfriend Mark Cornelsen spotted giving gay angst a bad name.
Heart-Breaking: Marriage does not do the trick for all of us, even those lucky enough to live in states where it's legal.
Interfaith Advocates for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender People in Rochester (New York) issues a doctrine for achieving Dr. King's "Beloved community" that includes banning hate crimes against transgendered people.
Rubyfruit Bar and Grill is joining Florent as a memory. The bar, named after Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle, is the victim of higher rent (it's up from $6,500 to $11,000 since 1994) and, perversely, the greater acceptance of gay people in the past decade. "Back then in 1994 there wasn’t this liberation yet for lesbian women, so it became a haven with private, intimate dinners, great wines, a place to hold hands and feel comfortable being out and having dinner Here we are in 2008, where they no longer need to have their own place. They can go anywhere and do whatever they want. It’s kind of a good thing, I guess," said Rubyfruit’s owner, Debra C. Fierro.
Posted 10:11 AM EST by Matthew Rettenmund in Gavin Newsom, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage Quotes, Iceland, Military, Nepal, T.R. Knight | Permalink
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TR & Mark are just so cute, holding hands. Sigh, wish I had a BF right now. Oh well, let's see what the 4th holds for me.
Posted by: davefromtampa | Jul 2, 2008 10:33:08 AM
Uh, both the Dale and partial-birth abortion cases are OLD news--they were decided about 8 years ago (that article's about that old as well)...
Posted by: Y | Jul 2, 2008 10:34:12 AM
Thanks, fixed!
Posted by: Matthew Rettenmund | Jul 2, 2008 10:40:01 AM
I think there is something wrong with Google News... all these old stories are showing up in current searches... I saw one yesterday about Microsoft losing it's case with the European Union on antitrust charges... I thought... huh... didn't that already happen...and the answer was of course it did... maybe Google is trying to give us history lessons... stay tuned, soon we'll be hearing about the Bush/Gore election cliffhanger...
Posted by: Mike | Jul 2, 2008 10:45:35 AM
I was really hoping not to see a David Benkof/Bianco column posted at Towleroad. That guy is the biggest douchebag I've ever come across on the internet... and that's saying a lot!
He's also a raging egotist... so expect him to show up here at any moment to start a nasty comment battle.
So before any of you get outraged at the Bush AIDS column, you should know who you're dealing with... the author David Benkof is an ex-gay religious fundamentalist. Learn everything you need to know here:
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/david-benkof-behind-the-mask
Posted by: crispy | Jul 2, 2008 10:50:28 AM
Wow, that David Benkof (Bush = best on AIDS) is a piece of work! Against marriage AND against condoms! (oh, I mean "pro-abstinence")
Sad about mixed nationality couples. That's usually a point anti-marriage folks have no comeback for. What about when the person you love is deported to another country? We need more support for the Uniting American Families Act.
Posted by: Kevinvt | Jul 2, 2008 10:52:28 AM
One thing that has turned me off of politics is that it has become much more about personalities and who's in power and who is not, rather than about policy. The AIDS/HIV and Bush story is an excellent example of that. Rather than allying ourselves with the administration in efforts focused toward mutual concern, we'd rather just hate the man and scream against him in regards to policies with which we disagree, and rightly so (The screaming, not the hating.). But sadly, the consequence of our hate is to simply ignore where we could be working together, you know, like a country united. Are we so afraid of the potential of anyone having a good impression regarding Bush in regards to anything that we'll turn our backs on things of much greater importance?
I don't get it. So I turn my efforts towards things that will make a difference in the lives of others at a personal level, and leave the political hating to others. I've gotten too old for it.
Posted by: KJ | Jul 2, 2008 10:54:47 AM
So, T.R. Knight will date a 19-year-old.
I've got two years on that fella. I HAVE A CHANCE!
Posted by: Thor | Jul 2, 2008 10:58:41 AM
I'm 1/2 year shy of 35, and I really can't see myself dating a 19 year old. I know to each his own, but 19 seems just a little too green for my tastes. I tend to like guys with a little more experience, so the aphrodesiac of youth has never really been a big thing for me. Of course, since entering my mid 30s, I've gone on dates with guys a little younger than me, but not with such an age gap.
(I should also add one of my best friends is a straight woman who is the younger partner in a relationship with a similar age disparity to TR's and Mark's and they're totally happy)
Posted by: Alex | Jul 2, 2008 11:04:55 AM
Wow, that STrib article about Bush and AIDS is one whopping helping of crazy.
Posted by: MAJeff | Jul 2, 2008 11:14:03 AM
MAJeff,
You don't know the half of it! The guy who write that column makes Travis Bickle look sane.
Posted by: crispy | Jul 2, 2008 11:25:35 AM
I think one of the disappointing things is that something that completely batshit ended up in the STrib. I know there have been issues at the paper over the past couple years (since I left MN), but it's generally been a fairly decent paper. That kind of nonsense really has no place in a paper like that, it's so divorced from reality.
Posted by: MAJeff | Jul 2, 2008 11:44:01 AM
why is everyone freaked out by the age difference? look at sir ian mckellan. he f*cks men in their early twenties all his life. just he doesn't flaunt it publicly.
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2008/06/30/ian-mckellen-shirtless/
Posted by: pippo | Jul 2, 2008 1:12:05 PM
Ian McKellan is dating a 29 year old, which is a world of difference from a 19 year old. I'm sure there are mature and interesting 19 year olds out there, but there's soooo much that happens in college and post college that defines a person.
I'm not against relationships with a huge age disparity (hell, I saw that lovely Christopher Isherwood/Don Bachardy documentary and cried for 90 minutes), but for me, I cannot imagine having to deal with the specific issues prevalent in a relationship with a huge age gap. My ex was 10 years older than me and sometimes I felt we lived on different planets.
Posted by: Alex | Jul 2, 2008 1:23:09 PM
Alex, I don't see your point. Ian McKellan is free to date whomever he likes, and obviously can attract some very hot men (his date at the Oscars a few years ago was stunning). But a 40-year age difference is absurd. Talk about different planets. How many cultural references do you think are shared by an esteemed Shakesperian actor and a model?
Posted by: Paul R | Jul 2, 2008 1:44:55 PM
Oh, and---GOD I HOPE NEWSOM WINS.
Posted by: Paul R | Jul 2, 2008 1:45:34 PM
Paul, while a 40 year age difference is a challenge, I am comparing McKellan's younger man to Knight's. I think a 29 year old man is a slightly different animal than a 19 year old man. Of course, Knight's age gap isn't as huge as McKellan's, so I guess it's all a wash. While I don't mind going 10 years in either direction of my age, I cannot imagine such an age-disparate relationship for myself . . . but I have a hard time condemning them. Who am I to say who one can date?
(of course if men my age are dating 19 year olds, I'm freaking out that 19 year olds are suddenly the competition. j/k! ;D )
Posted by: Alex | Jul 2, 2008 1:52:44 PM
"I'm sure there are mature and interesting 19 year olds out there"
Interesting? Maybe. Mature? Psha! Even if you're "very mature for your age" at 19 you're still a kid with annoying kid tendencies. There's still tons of room for growth.
Not knocking TR or Mark--they look really happy together--but I wouldn't date a 19 year old and I'm 21.
Posted by: Chas | Jul 2, 2008 2:08:46 PM
Gather round and someone who has studied the facts and figures extensively [moi] will summarize Bush fils vis-a-vis AIDS.
1. As of last year, every year he's been in office he's "flatlined" funding for the Ryan White CARE Act which is where most money for AIDS programs in the US comes from. That means that because inflation rose as the funding stayed the same he gave LESS to domestic programs each year.
2. His administration tried to make that worse by redistributing allocations from the cities where AIDS is most prevalent to rural areas where rates have increased. It was a shameful attempt at Either/Or which forced groups to fight each other for the crumbs while he spent BILLIONS more on a ridiculous and deadly war.
3. His demonization of gays by endorsing an amendment to the US Constitution to ban marriage equality reinforces already existing homophobia which, in turn, makes the effort to fight AIDS, particularly among the American African American community that much harder.
4. While he DOES deserve some credit for greater funding of AIDS programs outside the US, he deserves equal condemnation for insisting that ONE-THIRD of it go to "abstinence only" teaching, which Bush-funded programs in the US have also often insisted upon. Don't take MY word for it....just ask an entire country—Brazil—which turned down $40 MILLION in US funding rather than agree to abstinence only teaching which would have undermined their very successful condom distribution programs and work with prostitutes.
Is he the monster that Reagan was? No, but neither should any statues be built though I imagine he'll be posing for one at his eventual "Presidential Library" [it will have one book: "Jokes To Read While Sitting on the Presidential John"].
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Jul 2, 2008 2:11:49 PM
Holy hell, I would wet myself if we got to witness a David Benkof vs. Michael Bedwell smackdown. I am calling in to work and popping the popcorn right now.
Posted by: crispy | Jul 2, 2008 2:45:05 PM
Yes but even with Clinton in office less than a billion was spent and Bush did make 3 billion available. Everyone might not agree with how it was distributed but it did help. We're still trying to help people infected with HIV into this country, a policy created by Clinton. He also throws out another good point that GWMs are more concerned with gay marriages than Hiv/Aids which I disagree on.
Posted by: paul | Jul 2, 2008 3:03:17 PM
"Ian McKellan is dating a 29 year old, which is a world of difference from a 19 year old."
if i'm not mistaking, that man sir ian is frolicking with in st. tropez is the same man he brought to the oscars several years ago. he met him in new zealand while the boy was only 19 or 20 years old. so it's kinda the same isnt it.
Posted by: pippo | Jul 2, 2008 3:10:19 PM
pippo, I was not aware it was the same person. While 19 is certainly legal, there's something about it that's a little strange to me. Since I don't know McKellan or his paramour, who can say what the relationship is about.
Posted by: Alex | Jul 2, 2008 3:20:49 PM
Paul, you know who's more obsessed with gay marriage than gay white men? The man praised throughout the article, and the party of which he's a part.
And do you know why many gay white men are so interested in marriage? Because they and/or their partners have HIV/AIDS and want to make sure they're taken care of.
The Uncle Marys are coming out in force this election.
Posted by: MAJeff | Jul 2, 2008 3:38:12 PM
19 year olds smell like zit medicine, cheap alcohol, and confusion.
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Jul 2, 2008 3:47:24 PM
We live in Vermont, where we have a wonderful AIDS organization, VT CARES. In 2004 they declined $100,000 in federal funds because the "strings attached would have been too onerous," according to a press report. Specifically, the group said that accepting federal money would require it to "disclose potentially identifying information" of people who wanted anonymous HIV testing. Government regulations, it says, would also require it to provide abstinence-based education and to "question the effectiveness" of condoms for HIV prevention."
I think our "tax refund" from the famous Bush plan that year went to VT CARES.
Posted by: Kevinvt | Jul 2, 2008 3:53:58 PM
Furthermore, it was not Clinton who "created" the policy banning people with HIV from immigration. THAT policy was created in 1987 (NOT CLINTON!). It was enacted into law in 1993 by Congress (Not Clinton) but then signed by Clinton, because it was part of the important NIH reauthorization, not a separate policy.
Posted by: Kevinvt | Jul 2, 2008 4:07:07 PM
"19 year olds smell like zit medicine, cheap alcohol, and confusion."
Yes, JIMMY, but they get new hard-ons every half hour after cuming! You remember. I can buy them good liquor.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 2, 2008 4:22:31 PM
I graduated from college when I was 19, and I had clear skin, fine taste in alcohol, and little confusion (maybe some depression). But would I have dated someone 10 years older than me, much less 40? No way. Finishing college is one thing, but a person who hasn't even held a real job is forever going to be under the thumb (financially, intellectually, or otherwise) of someone that much older than them.
And the same goes the other way: a much older man dating a much younger man will always have to be concerned about trying to keep up, in more ways than one. But more to the point---how much do they have in common, and what do they have to talk about? As I said, their points of reference would diverge enormously.
Even if not the stereotypical daddy-son relationship, it veers into professor-student or some other coupling on unequal footing. I don't understand why anyone would want that or how they could enjoy it. But if it works for some people, so be it. I'd rather grow and mature and share experiences with someone near the same station in life as myself. But I am not all people...
Alex, I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking you. I just think the world of difference between a 19 year old and 29 year old is not all that great in the context of a 40-year age gap.
Posted by: Paul R | Jul 2, 2008 5:17:26 PM
Michael Bedwell, don't be unfair. George's library will certainly also contain "My Pet Goat."
Posted by: Paul R | Jul 2, 2008 5:19:19 PM
LOL
Derrick
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Jul 2, 2008 6:10:00 PM
The whole purpose of this article was for Benkof to promote his anti same-sex marriage crusade and trying to cast gay people in a bad light while misleading his readers in the first sentence into thinking that he is a gay activist.
He used to be a gay activist. He is now a frothing at the mouth anti-gay activist.
I'm really stunned that so many reputable publications are picking up and printing this chalatan's crap; especially considering all the times he's been caught misrepresenting, misquoting and outright lying to make his anti-gay points. He is cut for the same cloth as Cameron, LaBarbara, Perkins, Wildmon, Sheldon and the rest of the homophobic hee haw gang except Benkof is worse because he passes himself off as speaking on behalf of the gay community as a gay activist when in fact he has gone on record denouncing homosexuality and stating that he does not consider himself gay.
The man is a very conflicted and unhappy person trying desperately to deny his nature by attacking anything and everything pro-gay. He should be ignored when he tries to hijack comment threads but vociferously challenged when he gets his propaganda published in print or online.
Posted by: Zeke | Jul 2, 2008 11:12:44 PM