By the way...

In the last post, I quoted UK Gay News referring to Matthew Mitcham's partner, Lachlan, but they don't show any picture of him giving Matthew that "peck"... So here ya go:

The first is a screenshot from Aussie TV... followed by that "peck"...

Queer(s) of the Year

Originally posted here...

To my disgust, Queerty has nominated a *straight* man: LAPD Chief William Bratton. To be fair, they didn't exactly name him "Queer of the Year"... they called him "Homo Hero of the Year", based largely on the following:

It’s easy to forget, in the face of so much vocal opposition to fairness and equality for gays and lesbians, that the ranks of allies supporting us are growing every day. Chief Bratton publicly announced his financial support of the No on 8 campaign as well as his support for gay marriage in July at the urging of a gay couple he’s friends with, saying at the time: "The Constitution guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I see no reason why gays can't pursue happiness through marriage."

But it is the way he and the Los Angeles Police Department treated the protesters that makes him Queerty’s Homo Hero of the Year. There are many worthy LGBT folks who deserve mention (and are mentioned below), but Bratton’s proved that even the most homophobic institutions are capable of change when led by people with courage.

The "honorable mentions" that Queerty goes on to cite include California newlyweds Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin, comedian and anti-Prop 8 protester/speaker Wanda Sykes, and Australian diver and Olympic medalist Matthew Mitcham.

* * *

UK Gay News names Matthew Mitcham "Hero of the LGBT Year 2008":

He "came out" to the Sydney Morning Herald in the spring, and then during the summer he became the first openly gay man to win an Olympic Gold Medal when he prevented China sweeping the men's diving events in Beijing. Despite being fêted as an Olympic hero "down under", he is finding it hard to get sponsorship from major companies, who share the "spoil sport" of the gay year with American television who deprived their viewers of seeing Matthew giving his partner the discreet "peck" on the cheek that brought tears to the rest of the world.

Okay, but...

I'm still looking for someone who had a wider impact than just the sporting world (as much as I do admire Mitcham for his class, and quiet courage). Therefore, I'm going to nominate Seattle-based activist Amy Balliett, who, along with Cleveland activist Willow Witte, founded Join The Impact, a website organized to fight California's regressive Proposition 8.

"Well," you might say, "that contradicts your opening post, in that, like Wayne Besen, Join The Impact was formed in reaction to a loss of our rights, and has not actually accomplished anything to advance our rights." Well, maybe not SO FAR, but I think Join The Impact has accomplished something even more important than fighting a homophobic California initiative. It has awoken complacent queers across the United States -- and even beyond -- and has been called the Stonewall of the Next Generation. And while some like Peter Staley and Dan Savage have sniffed over the "diminishing impact" of such Join The Impact efforts as "A Day Without Gays" and "Light Up The Night", I think they miss the larger point: Join The Impact has lit a fuse, and the reverberations will continue to be felt for a long time to come.

I have had my differences of opinion with Rex Wockner in the past, but I heartily agree with his piece on why "Stonewall 2.0 is not fizzling out:

Some bloggers and others have suggested that the 'Stonewall 2.0' phenomenon is petering out. 'Join the (diminishing) Impact,' said Peter Staley. Dan Savage jumped in saying Join The Impact's followup events to Nov. 15th's massive national demos have been weak. Everyone involved in the Stonewall 2.0 phenomenon should read both critiques. But Stonewall 2.0 isn't fizzling...

That's because Stonewall 2.0 already happened. Stonewall itself lasted three nights in 1969, but it set the stage for much that came after it. Stonewall 2.0 lasted, at minimum, 11 days -- and, I suggest, set the stage for much that will come after it.

In David Carter's book Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, one Michael Fader told Carter: "We all had a collective feeling like we'd had enough of this kind of shit. ... Everyone in the crowd felt that we were never going to go back. It was like the last straw. It was time to reclaim something that had always been taken from us. ... There was something in the air, freedom a long time overdue, and we're going to fight for it. It took different forms, but the bottom line was, we weren't going to go away. And we didn't."

Sound familiar?

Stonewall 2.0 may or may not be inextricably wed to Join The Impact, the viral entity that coordinated the massive, 300-city, 50-state demos on Nov. 15, but what happened from Nov. 5 to Nov. 15 in California and across the country indisputably fired up a new generation of activists and lit a fire under complacent, comfortable older generations. It was a 2.0 moment -- different from the gay marches on Washington, the AB 101 protests, the White Night Riots and other post-Stonewall historical moments precisely because it took place from coast to coast and border to border, and because the method by which it was organized (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, e-mail, text-messaging) can be reactivated in minutes whenever the moment strikes.

So... despite all the valid points that folks like Staley and Savage raise -- and I too thought "A Day Without Gays" and "Light Up The Night" were weak (and the idea behind "A Day Without Gays" was particularly dumb) -- I still salute Amy Balliett and Willow Witte, and name them MY pick for co-winners of 2008's "Queer(s) of the Year".

Queer music?

Why I love Robbie Williams

Okay, who knew this was gonna be the topic/impetus for my first *real* post on this blog? Not me.

I'm a creature of habit and sloth, but I'm also someone who aspires to be creative... and although I can be ordered to be creative -- I have worked at many newspaper/magazine/contract jobs in the past, all with deadlines -- but in order to REALLY be creative, I need *inspiration*. I try to kid myself that I am creative when I write, so bear with me, here... :p

Well, I was lying here 3/4 asleep with my computer on 'mix', and 'repeat', playing iTunes songs as I dozed, and Robbie Williams' song "Angels" came on. Now, I have ALWAYS had a 'thing' for Williams, since I first ran across his music a few years ago (more on that, in a bit). Well, in my almost-sleep, I recognized it as the version that has a "glitch" on it, and ends up "garbled" toward the end -- it was originally re-recorded off the only copy I had of it, from a tape-recording off the radio. (Stop laughing.) For *whatever* reason, I still had that version on my iTunes, as well as newer version, which is clear and clean, but it was the "old" version that was playing, and that's what dragged me up from the Land of Nod... I wanted to hear the *good* version.

(And yes, I DO still have other "crappy" versions of songs that I have not yet been able to replace via Limewire/Poison, etc. -- fuck the US government; P2P sharing like that is NOT yet illegal where I live, in Canada.)

Anyway, I fought my way back to consciousness, and sat up to change the version of the tune, and then -- as I gradually woke up more -- I realized that I had been woken up by Robbie Williams (which made me smile).

Now, I have been party to Fer's -- my good friend 'Feral', of Feral's Treehouse fame -- admonitions for some time about how any good queer should support good, 'out' queer artists (which I try to do; I luv Jay Brannan!) and eschew closet cases, or those we suspect of being closet cases. And while I agree with him intellectually, that does not (and cannot) negate the fact that I like what I like, in terms of music -- and my taste in music tends to be wildly eclectic, from Gilbert & Sullivan, to Waylon Jennings, to Paul Robeson, to the (Soviet) Red Army Choir -- I LOVE their (voice) version of the old Soviet national anthem -- to kd lang, to Harry Lauder, to William S. Burroughs' and Utah Phillips' spoken-word stuff, to Johnny McGovern to... well, you get the point.

And I agree with Fer's point about the wisdom of listening to openly gay artists, and the subsequent sense of freedom and self-awareness that comes from listening to songs where you don't have to automatically mentally "translate" whenever you hear a guy singing about "her", or a gal singing about "him". It IS liberating to hear someone like Rufus, or Jay, or kd singing openly and proudly about their feelings of love and longing for someone of their own gender. But the what of all the OTHER songs I love, and have listened to, whilst growing up? Is Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" or Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" off my list, because they were each in the closet when they recorded them? Pish. Don't be silly. A good tune is a good tune. Hell, I still listen to a variety of George Michael tunes, and I don't give a damn if I get sneered at by straights OR queers because of that.

Now, one can make the argument that Elton and kd were singing (and writing) back in the "dark ages" just as Cole Porter and Noel Coward were, and so special dispensation can be made for them, as distinct from current-day artists who are (or whom we *suspect* are) queer, such as Mica or Robbie Williams. Maybe so. But while I am a proud fan of folks like Rufus or kd, I have never been an absolutist -- at least in part because there is so much heteronormitave music out there, and I am not necessarily familiar with all the queer music out there. And also in part because I simply don't *care* for some queer music. But also because I DO love some good (even great) music made by straights -- and closet cases.

Does that make me an "assimilationist"? -- not an argument Fer has ever made, BTW... No, I don't think so. I can listen to The Commitments' version of "Dark End Of The Street" and appreciate it in an entirely queer manner, while the fellow across the table from me can appreciate it in an entirely "het" fashion, and it's *still* a great tune. Granted, that same fellow can't listen to Johnny McGovern's "Soccer Practice" or Jay Brannan's "Ever After Happily" and EVER succeed in hearing it as anything *other* than a queer tune, but so what? They got to pretend for all these years that so many of our People were their People, so they're gonna have to learn to make some adjustments in their perceptions. Suck it.

So yeah, I listen to Robbie warbling about chycks in "Angels", even though I *suspect* that he's a total $3 bill. But even if he's not, so what? I love the tune.

ummm... hello

Pretty boring for a first post. It *will* improve (and get more aesthetically pleasing) in the not-too-distant future. Promise.