Lesbophobia in a Gay Bar: A Personal Account

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Zach Stafford

The other night I went to a gay bar on Christopher Street in New York City and left feeling like a broken piece of a larger, broken gay community that doesn't seem to be whole.

As I walked into the bar, I was excited to see drag bingo being played on a moderately busy Sunday evening, and an array of different kinds of people.

This was New York to me, the New York you always hear about: fun, vibrant, diverse.

My friends decided to stand next to a group of people in front of the drag queen who was moderating bingo, and we befriended them instantly. This group, like mine, was a mixture of lesbians and gay men.

While my friends, new and old, played bingo alongside the other bar-goers, I moved to the restroom for a moment. During this break from bingo, I suddenly heard the drag queen yell over the mic, "Hey, I know you're lesbians and all, but this is a gay bar!" among a few other hateful comments.

I let that my brain absorb what had happened, and I thought, "Wait, did a man impersonating a woman just yell at women for being in a 'gay' bar?"

When I got back to my friends, I saw that the lesbians of the group were clearly pissed off and confused; one friend pulled a bartender over to ask him why they were being targeted by the drag queen's hateful remarks when they were paying customers just wanting to play bingo.

The bartender looked at us and responded, "I can't kick you all out, but I can say that you all should probably leave. You're not going to get served anymore."

This stunned all of us, and in complete anger one of my friends started yelling at the bartender that she was being denied service because she was a lesbian.

She said, "I am staying and finishing my drink. You will just have to deal with me being here, a paying customer playing bingo." The bartender shrugged the statement off, rolled his eyes, and walked behind the bar.

By this time, a gaggle of older gay men who had been watching this happen began yelling things at us: "This is a gay bar! Go home, lesbians!" "Why do you have to be here?" "Don't you people have your own bar?" I decided to talk to these men.

I approached two of them, but one looked at me and said, "You should leave here, too. You don't belong, either!" This came off as racist to me, and I responded accordingly to the older white man: "Sir, you should be careful with how you word that sentence; you're at risk of sounding racist along with already being misogynistic."

He glared at me and once more said, "Leave!" while grabbing my half-full drink, trying to pull it away from me, as the bartenders watched in apparent support of his actions. At that moment I pulled back, yelling, "Excuse you, I am not done yet, and do not touch me!"

I drank the rest of my beverage and slammed down my drink in front of them, but once again, they insisted that I leave along with my lesbian friends.

Finally, I looked at the bartender with hopes of help, but he just shook his head at me. His only response was, "Don't provoke them." With that statement I went for my coat and my friends, who had each been individually cornered by a combination of staff and the older regulars who frequented the bar. We left, defeated.

With the letters L, G, B, and T we see different identities being pushed in tandem in order to present a united front. At times this has caused controversy and turmoil within the "gay" community, but with recent advancements in legal rights, we seemed to be piecing together a more equal future and even beginning to look more whole.

But I want to point to this moment above and ask us, as a community, to look within our own group and recognize the ways in which we are fragmenting each other.

The incident that I went through is not rare, and many of my lesbian friends can point out past moments in which they were harassed for being in a gay bar.

Although I understand the importance of having certain spaces for certain groups, we should not be subjecting women within our own community to the same discrimination that we are fighting against, whether we happen to be in a gay-male bar or not.


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Egg, Banana, and Coconut: Are Gays More Racist?

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Marten Weber

Anyone following the hype over U.S. basketball star Jeremy Lin will have observed the thick layer of racism lying ponderously over the media.

One not-so-witty journalist rightly lost his job over the headline "Chink in the Armor," after Jeremy's recent setback, but the public statements of some athletes and the reactions in the press showed that race still matters, and racism is yet a fact of life.

As a hopeless (or hopeful?) sentimentalist, I like to think that there exists a global community of gay men and women who, in the face of discrimination and prejudice, all love and respect each other regardless of skin color, a worldwide brother- and sisterhood with common interests, similar outlooks on life, and shared values. Yeah, right!

How deluded this idea is was brought home to me during last year's visits to several American and European cities.

Almost every major metropolis with a gay scene has separate bars for Asians, and even for Asian-lovers, both of which have to endure a plethora of derogatory denominations, from "rice queen" to "potato queen" and a whole lot of edibles in between. (Do you know what a banana is? How about an egg or yolk? Or a coconut? Don't ask!)

A look at online profiles will bring the same disheartening revelation: the gay world is full of narrow-minded, bigoted racists.

Prowlers proudly pin their racism and prejudices on their profiles: the favorite "no fems, no chubs, no Asians!" reminds me of the old "no dogs or Chinese" store signs of pre-war Shanghai, and I shudder.

On my U.K. book tour in the lovely city of Manchester, we listened to natives explaining why Poles were good for a hot one-night stand (no pun there, I was assured), but not really boyfriend material; why one should always avoid Arabs and Turks ("they smell and lie"), and that Asians -- no offense to my husband, or indeed to me -- were only suitable for old queens or really ugly guys. "They are only after your money anyway."

The amount of racial affinity is staggering. Even in big metropolises like Madrid and Milan, we counted far more profiles of young men looking for men who were "alike" in age, looks, and muscle development than we found explicit interest in otherness and delight in racial difference.

The more subtle date-seekers qualify their predilections with the moronic "no offense, it's just my taste."

The author Andrew Holleran described the gay world as a social melting pot, the gay disco that most democratic of institutions, where construction workers meet lawyers on equal terms.

Apparently they do mingle, as long as the both share approximately the same genetic makeup. No Moroccan construction workers for that Danish lawyer, please.

As a biracial couple, we are especially attuned to such attitudes. My Asian husband tends to like or dislike cities by the number of friends we make on social apps -- thus Boston is better than Los Angeles, and Berlin better than London.

We made a test and changed his app picture to show only his torso. His dedication to healthy cuisine was rewarded by a whopping 143 Hi!s in half an hour!

Of those, 140 disappeared or blocked him when shown his -- and you must believe me here -- absolutely gorgeous Asian face. I won't tell you which city, but we ain't gonna visit there again, I tell you.

Go through any magazine in a Western bookstore or your local porn shop and you can count the number of ethnic cover boys on one hand. "Ethnic" is of course itself a Caucasian-centric term.

The fact that it, along with "Interracial," is a category on many websites is a sign of how far away we are from an equitable, accepting society in which the color of one's skin does not matter.

That Jeremy Lin has to be an Asian-American athlete rather than just an American basketball player is simply ludicrous.

To compare notes, we interviewed the owners of two straight dating website for this article, who told us that Asian men did not have a big following, whereas Asian women were fairly easy to match with desirous Caucasian husbands.

In general, the straight bars and pubs we surveyed had a higher percentage of racial diversity than any of the gay venues. In Asia, of course, Caucasian are invariably in high demand and are often treated better than their arrogance deserves. Perhaps because there are so few to go around? So is it racism or just a matter of supply and demand?


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Gay Bigots-I Hate Them

via GayNZ, by The Gay Blade

And there is so much racism out in the gay world, and it really comes through in the online setting. So many ads in NZ that read  ”No Asians/Indians”.

Hmm, so that’s over 2 billion people, about 1/3 of the globe’s entire population you’ve decided to dismiss because why…?

OK, if it’s just the gay portion of that more than 2 billion you’re dismissing, it’s considerably less, several hundred million men, absloutely none of whom you could ever find sexually interesting.

 Zero. Zip. Nada. Not one.

That’s crazy – and no, it’s not “just my preference”: it’s racism pure and simple. And I have a particular loathing for racism and racists.

It’s racist because it is firmly and entirely built on the idea of race in the first place. How can you generalise about all men from Korea or Sri Lanka? You can’t – if you try to, you are using a tool of racism, and you are racist.

It’s racist because it fails to see our shared humanity – you are relegating and dismissing one group of people purely and simply because of your own bigotry based on their ancestry and what this does to their physical appearance.

If it’s “just a preference” consider how the sentence reads if you say “No Maoris (it’s just a preference) ” or ”No Jews (it’s just a preference)”

Does that feel right? Does that sit well with you? I can’t imagine anyone using that on a profile here in NZ, although I know there are men who have that view.

I have met loathsome white people in NZ who can’t have sex with “brownies” I’m sorry to say.

And can you imagine the effects of that constant negative barrage on people?

It just seems so weird to me – some men are hot, some aren’t. I don’t care about ethnicity. I’ve met hot, beautiful and sexy men from all sorts of backgrounds.

There are some amazingly unsexy and ugly whites out there, but I wouldn’t use that to justify saying “No whites”, so to me it comes down to some level of fear of the unkown.

Fear of those that are different.

Saying it’s “Just a preference” is a load of bullshit. That’s a cowardly, mealy-mouthed way of pretending you’re not prejudiced – pure and simple.

What happens when you walk out of a dark room and find that muscle-god with the 8 inch dick who was banging you into a happy quivering mess turns out to be Chinese, Thai or Indian? Do you turn round and go “Oh dear, I don’t like Asians, sorry”

The truth is we are taught to associate certain groups with being sexually desirable and not others. We learn it through porn through our general culture and the images that are put out.

So in NZ we see people associating Maori and Pasifika men with being hot and sexy, hence the lack of the “No Maoris (it’s just a preference)” in the online world.

We’ve decided they are hot. But that’s part of a long tradition of seeing brown-skinned people from the Pacific as sexually freer than uptight “white” culture, freer and available. It’s racist, it’s exploitative and it’s based in fantasy, but it’s accepted.

And fear of what is different isn’t just about race either. I am still amazed at the well-educated, intelligent men I meet who are completely irrationally terrified of making love with someone who is HIV+.

Even when they regularly use condoms, if they know how to have safe sex and do it, if you tell them you’re poz they become gibbering wrecks.

It seems we embody all their fears about their own behaviour. I can’t see what else they are afraid of. If you know what you’re doing you’re not going to get it, no matter what the HIV status of your partner.

And this is another form of discrimination that’s close to racism. It’s a refusal to acknowledge that you are dealing with another human being who is just as worthy, just as real, just as human as you are.

Yes, I find some Indian and Chinese men unattractive – but I find the same about Germans and Anglo-Americans too, I find some Brazilians deeply unsexy to look at.

But I don’t dismiss the entire group because of it. Some men with HIV are sex-on-a-stick, some of us aren’t.
We gay men came from such a position of fear and discrimination ourselves – I guess this is why I react so strongly to this.

For centuries we were persecuted for being who we are, I find it amazing to see the same sort of ignorant nasty bigotry in our own world.


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Feds Take Action Against LGBT Housing Discrimination

via Advocate, by Neal Broverman

Speaking Saturday at the Creating Change conference in Baltimore, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan promised new rules against LGBT discrimination in housing and lending.

The rule prohibits owners and operators of HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing from inquiring about an applicant or occupant's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Also, lenders offering Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages cannot discriminate against LGBT people  in their borrowing practices, and cannot ask about their orientation or gender identity.

The narrow definition of "family," sometimes used as a way to discriminate against gay or transgender people in HUD voucher programs, will now not take into account marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

The new rules will be published next week and go into effect 30 days after.

"Enacting a rule is not enough. Training and education are essential to ensuring rules are followed in communities across the country," Donovan said at the conference.

"And so, HUD and its fair housing partners will work to provide guidance and training on the substance of this rule – and the impact it will have for both how we administer HUD programs and also how we enforce our nation’s fair housing laws more broadly."

HUD's new rules, which piggyback on already-existing LGBT friendly practices, were heralded by the HRC, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Donovan also spent much time in his speech reminding attendees of President Obama's accomplishments, including ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," enacting the Matthew Shepard hate crimes law, expanding hospital visitation rights, and banning transgender discrimination in federal employment.


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VIDEO: Little Boy Wants To Be A Girl Scout Gets Rejected

Homophobia and our youth

via Huffpost Gay Voices, by Jason Mannino

"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. ... What do I have to do so people will listen to me? No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you're the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing me down."

This article is my third in less than three years about teen bullying and the tragedy of suicide among LGBT youth. Today, I write an almost identical article with practically the same statistics that I have written for the past two years.

According to Massachusetts' 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, LGBTQ youth are over four times more likely to attempt suicide.

A 2009 study, "Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes," led by Dr. Caitlin Ryan and conducted as part of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, shows that adolescents who were rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide.

The rate of victimization among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students has remained constant between 1999 and 2009, the latest date for which there are statistics, according to the National Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

Once again, I feel my stomach doing backflips as I engage in dialogue about the homophobia and hatred entrenched in our culture. I have been having this conversation since I was an undergraduate student at, of all places, Rutgers University (where Tyler Clementi was harassed until he completed suicide last year), which is a place where I felt safe, accepted and free to explore and embrace diversity.

Reports indicate that Jamie Rodemeyer's suicide was preceded by severe harassment on social networking sites, including taunts like, "JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND [sic] UGLY. HE MUST DIE!" according to local reports.

 Another post read, "I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!"

Alarming research conducted by Sara Konrath and Edward O'Brien at the University of Michigan indicates that empathy among young adults and college students has dropped significantly since 2000.

They indicate that the fast-paced online world of social networking makes it easier to shut out the problems of others when we just don't feel like listening.

This research, together with the most recent example at Williamsville High (Rodemeyer was a freshman there), where, according to ACLU bullying expert Chris Hampton, the school's bullying policies, like those of other suburban Buffalo school districts, don't go far enough, begin to paint a picture of why our schools are failing to protect our youth.


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Racism in the LGBTQ Community

via HuffingtonPost, by Rev. Patrick S. Cheng, Ph.D.

Gay people love to talk about the diversity of our "community." But sometimes our actions fail to measure up to our words.

Recently, the queer Asian community in New York City was outraged by plans for a new gay party to be called "Mr. Wong's Dong Emporium."

The event, conceived by Joey Izrael and the gay rapper Cazwell, was advertised using highly offensive language and stereotypes about Asian Americans, including a "Sum Hung Boys erotic dance troupe" and a "Happy Ending massage den."

To add insult to injury, when members of the queer Asian community spoke up and objected to this party, many non-Asian gay men dismissed these concerns by saying that it was just campy fun and that we needed to "lighten up."

Fortunately, the Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY) refused to be silent. GAPIMNY published an open letter to the party promoters explaining why this party was so offensive to the queer Asian community.

To their credit, the promoters apologized and changed the name and theme of the party. Whether or not this becomes a teaching moment for the broader LGBT community remains to be seen, however.

As an openly gay Asian-American man, I often feel like a stranger in my own queer nation. A number of news articles in recent years have documented the widespread racism against Asians in the gay party scene, as well as in gay cyberspace.

The "Dong Emporium" incident is just one of many racist incidents that have angered the queer Asian community over the years. Twenty years ago, in the spring of 1991, the queer Asian community protested a New York City fundraiser by Lambda Legal that was held at the Broadway musical Miss Saigon, which had used white people in yellowface to play Asian roles.

In 2000, queer Asians were enraged by a Hotlanta circuit party that featured a "Year of the Dragon" theme and used offensive Asian stereotypes like a "china doll" pageant competition, a "fried rice" dance party, and an "ancient Chinese secret: boxers or briefs" event.


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Men seek damages for ‘gay slur’ on California theme park photo

via Pink News, By Jessica Green

Two men are suing a California theme park for damages after a photo of them on a ride was allegedly doctored and displayed with a gay slur.
Craig Person and Edmund Yang went on the Psycho Mouse ride at California’s Great America park in August 2008 and were photographed holding hands.

After the ride, they decided not to buy the photograph but friends later told them the image had been printed out and displayed at the ride’s counter with the caption ‘Were [sic] fags’, a lawsuit says.

The men went to the park’s managers to complain. While the lawsuit says the park was initially responsive, communication then dried up.

Their attorney, Wendy Musell, said: “Mr Yang was in the process of coming out, and it was very difficult for him to deal with this type of ridicule based on his sexual orientation.”

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Does it get better? Bullying linked to long term negative mental health, HIV risk

via LGBTQ Nation, by Dana Rudolph

A popular anti-bullying campaign has been telling bullied teens “it gets better” — but the effects of past bullying often linger, according to new research.

The study, released Monday (May 16) in the May 2011 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of School Health, reports that anti-LGBT bullying at school “is strongly linked” to negative mental health for its victims.

Among those risks are an increased frequency of suicide attempts and increased risk for engaging in behaviors that can lead to infection with STDs and HIV. The increased risks exist not only while the victim is in adolescence, but also in young adulthood.

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Who's That Queer [Pim Fortuyn]

Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF). He was a controversial figure who came to a dramatic end when he was assassinated during his election campaign.

Fortuyn was the centre of several controversies for his views about immigrants and Islam. He called Islam "a backward culture", and said that if it were legally possible he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants. He was labeled a far-right populist by his opponents and in the media, but he fiercely rejected this label and explicitly distanced himself from "far-right" politicians such as the Belgian Filip Dewinter, the Austrian Jorg Haider, or Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Pen whenever compared to them. While Fortuyn compared his own politics to centre-right politicians such as Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, he also admired former Dutch Prime Minister Joop den Uyl, a socialist. Fortuyn however repeatedly described himself and LPF’s ideology as pragmatism and not populism. Fortuyn was openly homosexual.

Fortuyn was assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf, who claimed in court he had murdered Fortuyn to stop him from exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power.

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Deconstructing the HIV Stigma and Drama re:Nashville Dinner Theatre’s Production of Rent

Those of us who live it know that people with HIV sometimes die of stigma. It may not have been written on their death certificates, but we’ve been present when stigma was the true cause of death. 

by Mark Hubbard

Disclosure: F. Daniel Kent, the writer of last week’s Rent Violations: Nashville Dinner Theatre Evicted from Dining Out for Life, and I began our friendship about ten years ago when we met through mutual acquaintances shortly after his HIV diagnosis. I’m one of several folks Kent leaned on for moral support (but not for content) during the time he was writing the piece. The two of us move in a couple of the same circles and we share what I like to call the “gay Broadway gene.”

For the record, this article was not his idea. I wasn’t there at the Rent rehearsals and I haven’t seen a performance. Although I know and admire one cast member, I don’t know any of the individuals quoted or written about in the article. I am only involved in the Nashville theater scene as an occasional audience member.

I’ve been looking back over the past week and trying to find meaning in the midst of what has at times devolved into a pissing match. I keep reminding myself that there are things I believe, things I know, and things that I can never know.

I know that word got to me and others in the community about fear and stigma on the set of Rent before Kent ever mentioned it to me.

I know that Nashville CARES’ involvement was a rather late development, occurring only after Kent had been working on the article for some time.

I know that Kent was very determined to get this story right. Early on he decided that if key and corroborating sources would not go on the record, he would not write the story. I also know that he was more patient than usual – waiting days and weeks to talk to those involved.

I believe that my friend had nothing to gain and everything to lose, including his considerable reputation, should he fail to write the story responsibly. Kent has worked on both sides of the stage in music and in theater for sixteen years, and is extensively networked in the entertainment field. In addition to writing prolifically for local and regional media, he has published articles on artists like Jennifer Hudson, Keith Urban, and Nicole Kidman in and on national media outlets like the OutInAmerica.com, the Bay Area Reporter, and US Weekly.

Those familiar with his work know that he often uses the simple Q&A style made popular by Interview magazine. What are often phone interviews are always recorded. I asked Kent whether that applied to the unnamed sources in his story. “Everything I did was recorded,” he replied. “There was fear of reprisals; there was fear that they’d be removed from the show. In order to get the story, I had to promise certain parties that their anonymity would be guarded.”

Nashville is too big to call a town and too small to be considered a city by those who live in a real one. That can present challenges. Kent deals with them in media, I deal with them in HIV advocacy. We wear a lot of hats, and it’s difficult to keep the roles cleanly delineated. We have to constantly think about how actions in one arena might affect us in another. We can’t afford to accumulate enemies. There are often too few allies sharing the load, and sometimes the fact that information can’t be shared with them for extended periods of time is stressful.

Subsequent to the publication of his story on Examiner.com, Kent invited a group of friends, some out of town guests and the replaced actor to accompany him in seeing the show. Invitees were told to be on their best behavior and that given the scenario, admittance was not assured. During his interview, theater owner and co-director Kaine Riggan had offered to “comp” him and a couple of guests so that they could evaluate the show on its own merits. Kent admits that he probably brought more guests than expected but also asserts that he was unable to reach Riggan to discuss this despite making repeated calls during the day. There was a confrontation after the show that revolved around Riggan’s desire to have the story taken down. He had been working to intimidate Examiner.com into doing so, and was eventually successful. Kent promptly moved the story to his own site, NowHearThis!

The dialogue continued the next day in an embarrassing Facebook exchange for which both parties were in my view responsible. Riggan seemed to think Kent’s integrity was for sale – that some deal could be made for him to withdraw the article. Kent, on the other hand, succumbed to the temptation to exploit that by offering to trade the story against a rather lengthy and detailed set of demands. While his intention was to address each of the very real harms that had been inflicted, I think it was a mistake for Kent to step into a role better filled by others in the community. I also think Riggan’s suggestion that the article should be removed was ridiculous.

Neither of the two are innocents. Both admit having very strong personalities. Kent confesses he can be a confrontational loudmouth. Riggan describes himself as a tantrum throwing closet redneck. I believe Kent has at times been too easily sucked into the personal drama and needs to examine his own complex motives. I believe Riggan responded to the story with desperate, unwarranted legal threats and innuendo; he and his defenders have at times falsely accused Kent of dishonesty while propagating mistruths of their own. Kent needs to let his excellent work stand on its own merits. They both protest too much, methinks.

There are a few other things that are clear to me.

Nashville CARES is a large, long-established, highly respected organization that consistently exhibits careful judgment and exceptional public relations skill. Their decision to remove the Nashville Dinner Theatre from the Dining Out for Life website speaks for itself.

Had Kent wished to maximize personal embarrassment for Riggan, he could have. He certainly failed to mine a wealth of material in the recorded interview. Had he wished to write a one-sided story, he wouldn’t have featured the categorical denials by both Riggan and Creative Director Vance Nichols.
Riggan has a reputation among the theater community in Nashville – one made up of positive and negative elements. The dinner theater crowd seems to have cheered his more traditional productions over the years both downtown and at the suburban senior center location where he was previously in residence. The facility where his new company resides has been lauded for its historical character. On the other hand, it’s known that Riggan departed two previous positions amid controversy, hard feelings, and accusations.

I can never know whether Byron Rice’s replacement was directly related to his HIV status. I can never know what went on in the head of actress Joanne Coleman, who was apparently shocked by Byron’s frank acknowledgement that he is HIV positive.

Whether it was a sincere disclosure or a ruse, Riggan’s claim that he and other staff thought that an individual would prefer being let go because of his HIV status over being let go based on his fitness for the part is telling. It appears to me that this production was mounted by a company whose management did not possess the cultural understanding necessary to do so with integrity.

I don’t want to see Nashville Dinner Theater or its production of Rent fail. Having multiple theater venues in Nashville means variety and options. As a gay man living with HIV/AIDS, though, I get nervous when folks who don’t share or truly understand my experience try to explain or portray it.

The cast who threatened to walk if the show was mutilated are heroes. I believed it when one of them emailed to say “what matters most to me is that someone was touched, moved, and inspired to think more deeply and more broadly about their lives...and to experience compassion for this human experience.” Byron Rice is also a hero for bravely owning his positive HIV status.

Those of us who live it know that people with HIV sometimes die of stigma. It may not have been written on their death certificates, but we’ve been present when stigma was the true cause of death. My friend F. Daniel Kent is my hero because even though he was faced with a difficult, personally affecting story, even though he stood to gain very little, he dared to investigate and tell the tale when no one else would.

Rent Violations: Nashville Dinner Theatre evicted from “Dining Out for Life"

Author F. Daniel Kent is a LifeLube ally, a fellow PLWHA, and a freelance journalist for a number of local and national media outlets.  Earlier today, he broke the news story below. One of his journalist colleagues commented that it is, "probably the best in-depth piece on a community controversy I've seen in a long time."

Daniel comments:

This could be the most important piece I have EVER written. As the narrative slowly unraveled over two plus weeks of interviews, research and consultations, I was amazed to find a story I could not have imagined in almost 37 years of life, almost 20 years of covering arts & entertainment around the country, and as a person whose HIV has lived with him for almost 13 years. One last thought: If this is happening in the 'Athens of the South', how much worse is it in less fortunate places? How much worse is it in your own back yard? This story is proudly dedicated to every person who has gone before me and struggled to make the voice of education heard over the fray and to all you who are still here and are yet to come. This is why we fight.

Here's the story, via NowHear This!

After a grueling production schedule including numerous casting delays, alleged vandalism and an impromptu cast walk-out protesting changes to the script, Nashville Dinner Theatre’s current production of the Broadway hit musical Rent has hit yet another violation. Nashville CARES, Middle Tennessee’s high profile non-profit HIV & AIDS support organization has removed the venue from their official Dining Out for Life list of participating restaurants after allegations that the show’s Co-director and theatre owner Kaine Riggan supposedly dismissed actor Byron Rice (who is HIV+) from the show due to his HIV status.

Read the rest.

Groundbreaking Study Finds Pervasive Discrimination Against Transgender Americans

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) today released a comprehensive new report, "Injustice at Every Turn," revealing the depth of discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming people in a wide range of areas, including education, health care, employment, and housing. The study, based on the results from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), was based on responses from over 6,450 participants. The NTDS is the first large-scale national study of discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming Americans, and paints a more complete picture than any prior research to date.

Among the key findings from "Injustice at Every Turn":

• Respondents were nearly four times more likely to live inextreme poverty, with household income of less than $10,000.
• Respondents were twice as likely to be unemployedcompared to the population as a whole. Half of those surveyed reported experiencing harassment or other mistreatment in the workplace, and one in four were fired because of their gender identity or expression.
• While discrimination was pervasive for the entire sample, it was particularly pronounced for people of color.African-American transgender respondents fared far worse than all others in many areas studied.
• Housing discrimination was also common. 19% reported being refused a home or apartment and 11% reported being evicted because of their gender identity or expression. One in five respondents experienced homelessness because of their gender identity or expression.
• An astonishing 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide, compared to only 1.6% of the general population.
• Discrimination in health care and poor health outcomes were frequently experienced by respondents. 19% reported being refused care due to bias against transgender or gender-nonconforming people, with this figure even higher for respondents of color. Respondents also had over four times the national average of HIV infection.
• Harassment by law enforcement was reported by 22% of respondents and nearly half were uncomfortable seeking police assistance.
• Despite the hardships they often face, transgender and gender non-conforming persons persevere. Over 78% reported feeling more comfortable at work and their performance improving after transitioning, despite the same levels of harassment in the workplace.

Said Rea Carey, Executive Director of the Task Force: "By shedding light on the discrimination that transgender Americans face, this study poses a challenge to us all. No one should be out of a job, living in poverty, or faced with sub-par health care simply because of their gender identity or expression. The scope of the problem is clear, and now we must come together to solve it."

Said Mara Keisling, Executive Director of NCTE: "Reading these results is heartbreaking on a personal level-each of these facts and figures represents pain and hardship endured by real people, every single day. This survey is a call to the conscience of every American who believes that everyone has the right to a fair chance to work hard, to have a roof overhead, and to support a family. Equality, not discrimination, is the ideal that Americans believe in, have fought for, and need to apply here."

Read the full article and the report here.

Why is it wrong to protect gay children?

via The Independent, by Johann Hari

To justify their discrimination against gay people, these few homophobes concoct a scenario in which they are The Real Victims

I am exhausted. I have spent all week trying to brainwash small children into being gay, by relentlessly inserting homosexuality into their maths, geography and science lessons. Their little eyes widened when the gay algebra lesson started, but it worked: their concept of “normal sexual behaviour” has been successfully destroyed. It’s all part of the program brilliantly co-ordinated by the Homintern to imposed The Gay Agenda on Every Aspect of British Life.

Read the rest.

Outrage as picture of Elton John's baby is covered with shield by U.S. supermarket to 'protect children'

A U.S. supermarket sparked outrage today after it covered with a 'family shield' a magazine showing a picture of Elton John, his husband and their newborn baby.

The Arkansas store deemed the image of the gay couple and their child, on the front of Us Weekly, to be offensive. Staff say complaints from shoppers prompted them to cover the magazine with the 'shield' - the same method used to cover pornographic magazines. The move today triggered fury among gay rights campaigners.

The magazine cover shows Elton and his husband David Furnish, 48, proudly showing off their baby Zachary Jackson Levi Furnish John who was born on Christmas Day via a surrogate mother.

The Harps grocery store in Mountain Home, Arkansas even wrapped last week's edition of the magazine in a protective plastic shield to stop youngsters flicking through it.

Only the very top of the magazine was visible, with the cover reading: 'Family shield. To protect young Harps shoppers.' The move has sparked outrage among representatives from GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation).

Local resident Jennifer Huddleston took a photo of the shield and posted it on Plixi. This was taken at my local grocery store,' she wrote. 'I was shocked and horrified.

'They are saying they need to keep children from seeing it, because it is a gay family.' Ms Huddleston then tweeted Anderson Cooper, Kathy Griffin, Ellen DeGeneres, The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the ACLU and a number of other gay rights activists. The picture immediately sparked controversy across the blogosphere.

But a company spokesperson defended the shield, saying Harps bosses reacted in response to 'several' customer complaints at that particular store. He insisted the move was 'in no way our opinion on this issue', adding, 'we do not have an opinion on this issue.'

But others were quick to complain about the shield, with many urging a boycott of the chain. Even international news outlets carried the story. Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail wrote: 'Heaven forbid your seven-year-old, while waiting in line with you at the grocery store checkout, be exposed to the gays.'

And British paper the Sun wrote: 'Either Elton's baby is in some way offensive or there's some serious homophobia going on here.' After receiving a plethora of complaints, the store management have taken action and un-censored the magazine.

'In this case our store manager received some complaints and, as has been our custom, placed the shield over the cover of the magazine', said Kim Eskew, president of Harps Food Stores Inc.

'When we began receiving complaints at our corporate office, we reivewed the magazine in question, removed the shield and are selling the magazine in all our locations today without any shield', Ms Eskew added.

The shields are usually placed over adult magazines with racy covers. 'Our true intention is not to offend anyone in our stores and this incident happened at just one of our 65 locations, which when brought to our attention we reversed', Ms Eskew said in a written statement.

Just last week Elton John publicly bemoaned feeling like a 'second-class citizen' in the U.S. because of his sexuality and said he was 'fed-up' about it. During a performance at a Beverly Hills fundraiser to help the legal challenge to California's gay marriage back Elton said: 'As I get older, I get more angry about it'.

Elton and his husband David Furnish have been together for 17 years and were married in a lavish ceremony in 2005. He recently shared how he is coping with life with a new baby.'Fatherhood is fantastic', he said. 'It's been the most wonderful thing that's happened to me after meeting David'.

He said that being a dad is 'surprisingly relaxing'.'This little soul that you're feeding, changing, bathing and telling bedtime stories to is a blank canvas', Elton shared.'And all it needs is love and nurturing. When he gets to talking and running around, I will probably feel a little different.'

Read the full article here.

South Africa: Stop 'Corrective Rape'

‘Corrective rape’, the vicious practice of raping lesbians to ‘cure’ their sexuality, is a crisis in South Africa.

Millicent Gaika, pictured above, was bound, strangled, and repeatedly raped in an attack last year. But brave South African activists are risking their lives to ensure that Millicent’s case sparks change. Their appeal to the Minister of Justice has exploded to over 140,000 signatures, forcing him to respond on national television.

If enough of us join in to amplify and escalate this campaign, we could help get urgent action to end 'corrective rape'. Let's call on President Zuma and the Minister of Justice to publicly condemn ‘corrective rape’, criminalise hate crimes, and lead a critical shift against rape and homophobia.

Sign the petition and read the original article here.

Bill Introduced to Amend Fair Housing Law to Include Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York introduced a bill yesterday that would ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or source of income. The bill would amend the Fair Housing Act to include these categories and would impact the sale and rental of housing, home financing and brokerage services.

"Transgender people urgently need protection from discrimination in housing. It is unconscionable that people are being forced out of their home and onto the streets because of prejudice," noted NCTE's Executive Director Mara Keisling.

A survey of transgender and gender non-conforming people conducted by NCTE and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force last year found that 19% of the 6,450 respondents reported having been homeless at some point in their lives because of their gender identity. People of color reported even higher rates, with an alarming 41% of African Americans and 29% of Latina/os in the study having been homeless because of bias.

Read the rest at NCTE.

Episcopalians Bummed to See Bishop Gene Go

via The Boston Globe, by Janet Walsh

Across the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, congregants and clergy today reacted with heavy hearts to word that Bishop V. Gene Robinson is retiring.

Robinson, 63, whose consecration seven years ago as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church divided the Anglican Communion worldwide, yesterday announced at the annual convention of the New Hampshire diocese that he plans to retire in January 2013, short of the mandatory 72-year-old retirement age for Episcopal bishops. He cited death threats and the considerable strain that the worldwide rift has placed on him, his family, and the church.

"The fact is, the last seven years have taken their toll on me, my family, and you," Robinson told the convention. "Death threats, and the now-worldwide controversy surrounding your election of me as bishop, have been a constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood with me every minute of the last seven years."

Read the rest.