Because of a long-standing prior commitment to some darling lesbians and a boat, I will not be performing at the Restoring Sanity Rally in DC this weekend. Not that anyone asked.

While I believe that humor can do serious work, I'm worried that the Restoring Sanity Rally will be a bit too ironic for its own good. I've read Comedy Central's disclaimers that they are going to try not to be political. I hope The Restoring Sanity Rally is not political in the same way that cry-baby booby Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally was not political.

The whole notion of restoring sanity relies on the lovely if naive premise that there was some baseline of national sanity in the first place. Perhaps a displaced but witty Native American will give the opening blessing.

Continue reading "Restoring Sanity or Resort to Hannity?" »

I'm interested in the way tribalism affects our own understanding of politics, and an interesting situation regarding that just brewed this week.

The Village Voice recently wrote a love letter to Dan Choi, portraying him as a sexy rogue who uses Grindr and swears a lot and just can't be held back. He's a maverick on a mission. If only the media still wrote profiles like that of John McCain.

Anyway, there's one quotation from Choi that's misogynist in the profile:

"Harry Reid is a pussy," Choi angrily said after the failed vote in the Senate last month, vowing to speak out about the Democratic leader, "and he'll be bleeding once a month."

Now, let's imagine that instead of Choi making that comment, it was Matt Barber of the Concerned Women for America who made that comment about Harry Reid saying something supportive of gay people. I know how my people, the LGBT bloggers, would react. We wouldn't have any trouble labeling that statement misogynist, and some of us would go even further, advocating a police investigation, because do we really know what Barber meant about Harry Reid bleeding? Those right-wingers, you never know when they're making violent threats.

But since Dan Choi is on our team, fighting for something we believe in, there will be no outrage. Here's Pam Spaulding's initial reaction:

Continue reading "Why people think "misogynist/racist/etc." are just meaningless insults" »

So there's this great new app on the iPhone that I'm sure Bilerico readers cannot live without... It's called "PeekabooTranny." Now what does this wonderful can't-live-without-it app do? You take a picture with it and -- wait for it -- it adds a "tranny" into your picture. Get it? She's playing "peekaboo!" in your picture.

Seriously though, not only is the whole premise offensive - especially the name - but Apple is notorious for being prudish about the apps it approves for sale in its App Store. This one made it through the process but a dictionary was blocked temporarily for including definitions for curse words and they still mark most LGBT apps as "contain age-restricted material" that requires you to put in your password to "prove" you're over the age of 17.

What's next now that Apple's standards department is okay with stereotypes and slurs? I smell Peekaboo Wetback! It'll insert a Mexican man wearing a sombrero and holding a burrito!

Continue reading "Peekaboo Tranny!" »

LAPD investigators are looking for five suspects who may have been involved with a brutal attack on a transgender woman in Hollywood.

The 25-year-old victim left a bar frequented by gay Latinos near the intersection of La Brea and Melrose avenues around 1:00 am on Oct. 4. Apparently she was approached by three women and two men who followed her and attacked her - leaving her with a broken jaw and cheek bone. A surveillance camera at the medical marijuana store next door caught the victim talking with some of the people believed to be her attackers. Police are looking for the five people caught on tape, especially the shirtless man in this still taken from the video.

Continue reading "LAPD Looking for Suspect in Brutal Beating of Transgender Woman In Hollywood" »

I'm moving to Santa Fe on Sunday, and what could be a better going-away present than an appearance on Democracy Now? And, not just that, but in conversation with Lieutenant Dan Choi, about one of my favorite topics! And, after writing a scathing critique about Choi's repeated appearances on the program without critical engagement.

It does give me hope that Democracy Now actually responded to the critique, and brought me on the show -- and I loved it! Of course I'm ready for more -- perhaps a debate on gay marriage?

Continue reading "Lt. Dan Choi & I: Together at last on Democracy Now" »

Ed Potosnak, Democratic nominee for Congress in New Jersey 7th District, is rocking the Garden State.

He authored a guest post this past week, and reiterated his support of LGBT rights, but more particularly, the very important issue of teen bullying. As he said, we must do better.

I'd like to note some of Ed's important accomplishments, positions and endorsements, and ask that you give, for the first time, or again, to help him finish strong in this race.

He's running against Rep. Lance, who voted against the repeal of DADT, who supports DOMA, who votes with the GOP leadership 90% of the time.

There are plenty of places where Democrats are going against heavy odds, but what makes Ed's race all the more poignant is that here is one we can win.

Whether we will or not -- it's up to us to help make it so. You can learn more about Ed's candidacy and help him by clicking here.

Continue reading "Ed Potosnak Rocks New Jersey And You Can Help Him Do It In Congress" »

Did you catch President Obama's appearance on the Daily Show last night? What do you think? Should the President be doing a sit down interview with a comedian while denying a sit down to the LGBT press (except for Americablog's Joe Sudbay's few questions he got in at a blogger meeting)?

Part 1 is below and Parts 2 and 3 are after the jump.

Are you going to the Rally to Restore Sanity this weekend? I'll be there filming for TBP. Instead of a Bilerico meetup this time, I'll be going to Joe.My.God's meetup at the Green Lantern. Hope to see some of you there.

Continue reading "President Obama on the Daily Show" »

After all that the Church has done for/to the world, I'm still amazed that it's off-limits to say anything that could be interpreted as an insult to Catholicism in Europe. Take, for example, how Facebook banned a group organizing a kiss-in for the Pope's visit to Barcelona:

A group on Facebook, Queer Kissing Flashmob, which managed to get 12,000 users to agree to go along on November 7 and display their love in public, has been shut down by Facebook, claim the organisers.

This has added more fuel to the fire, and one of the organisers, Marylène Carole, expressed her 'disbelief' that a couple kissing in public could be considered 'outrageous' in this day and age.

"It's difficult to understand how the noble and loving act of kissing your partner can still be defined as 'revolutionary' in the 21st century," she commented.

"It appears to be a form of censorship - and yet it was only started by a group of friends who have no connections to any political group or any kind of gay association."

Of course it's censorship. We queers celebrate censorship when it works in our favor and then decry it when it works against us, but it still is what it is and the point is that they considered disagreeing with the Pope too hot for their site. His statements about gay people, on the other hand, are perfectly OK because they're his deeply-held religious beliefs and no one can question them.

At least the kiss-in is still on.

In the UK, an ad got pulled because the government said it insulted the Catholic Church:

Continue reading "The Pope is very sensitive" »

A delightful pre-World War two shot of a group of young German soldiers having fun with fig leaves.

Continue reading "Sweet and Silly Soldiers: 1930s photo" »

Dear Father Tony,

I can feel my boyfriend is slipping away from me and my stomach is in knots. I have been through this before. This is my third boyfriend so I know this feeling when it happens. He's not interested in someone new (I think) but it's like he is losing interest in me. Now every time I am going to see him, I am sick with panic. My friends tell me I'm a hottie and fun to be with. I do everything I can to make him happy but I can feel the difference now from how it was when we first got together almost a year ago. All day long I wonder what is wrong with me.

I don't want to sign this like this but it's how I feel.

Loser

Dear Loser,

Your letter makes me sad. Because I don't know you, it's almost impossible for me to pinpoint why this experience has been yours for a third time. I sometimes wish there were a counselor who offered a service called "Am I lovable?" where you sign up for three sessions in which you do all the talking and a final fourth session, in which the counselor does all the talking and gives you a ten point plan to avoid repeating a pattern that makes you unhappy. Absent that, perhaps I can say something helpful.

Continue reading "Sowing the Seeds of Love" »

Editors' Note: Guest blogger Peter Shumlin, the Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore. Senator Shumlin is currently running for Governor of Vermont and has been an incredible force in the fight for marriage equality.

The struggle for equal rights for gay and lesbian people is ongoing and I am in it for the distance. I am a proud Vermonter and I have never been prouder of our state than when the legislature voted on April 7th, 2009 to overturn Governor Douglas's veto of the marriage equality bill.

As Senate President Pro Tempore, I, along with Speaker Shap Smith, led the legislature in this historic vote. Passage of the marriage equality bill made Vermont the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage by legislative action, not by a court order. This momentous vote marked almost twenty years since a governor's veto has been overridden.

There is no question that in the fight for equal rights that leadership matters. I have been that leader and I am eager to lead as the next Governor of Vermont.

Continue reading "Building a more tolerant & inclusive climate" »

Over the past year-and-a-half, I have headed up Equality California's efforts to win back the freedom to marry. During this time, I've had the chance to work with thousands of tremendous organizers, advocates, volunteers, donors, elected officials, and other leaders throughout California, all determined to do whatever it took to overturn the ugly blot on our state's constitution called Proposition 8. Together, we undertook the largest effort in our movement's history to make the case on marriage equality through face-to-face conversations.

I could not be prouder of what we together have accomplished. EQCA hired 19 dedicated organizers, we deployed them to the parts of the state where we had the most persuasion work to do, and recruited tens of thousands of volunteers and donors to support the work. We had literally hundreds of thousands of conversations at people's doors, moved 26 percent of the opponents with whom we spoke to be significantly more supportive, and helped grow public support for the freedom to marry in California from 44 percent to 50 percent (according to annual polling conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California).

I am especially proud of our focus and success building support in communities of color. With our community partners, we've demonstrated that, through real engagement, Latinos and African-Americans will move our way on the freedom to marry, and at rates higher than Anglos. And we've partnered with our colleagues working in the Asian-Pacific Islander communities to launch groundbreaking research on messaging in Chinese and Filipino communities.

As we all know, the landscape has shifted dramatically.

Continue reading "My Next Steps" »