Breaking: NYTimes reports on capture of Bronx Group who trapped and tortured gay men



This is one of  the most heinous crimes i have ever heard about. Andrew mentioned it in his earlier news round up, but these details are going to be the news, especially i the context of increased awareness of crimes against gay people. Be warned, the NYTimes reporters share a great deal of graphic detail in this piece from tomorrow's paper, online now.   From the piece:

“These suspects deployed terrible, wolf-pack odds of nine against one, which revealed them as predators whose crimes were as cowardly as they were despicable,” Police Commissioner said as he described the attacks in grim detail at a news conference at Police Headquarters.,

In the piece it sounds as though police did a good and professional job of investigating but that the  perpetrators might still be at large were it not for the single neighbor who slipped a note to one of the officers at the scene and shared enough information for them to track and arrest these guys today and yesterday. The victims were hesitant to come forward immediately beccuase of the serious threats mad about what would happen if they did speak to authorities.

Though stories that hit on Friday nights typically  disappear by Monday. It's clear to me that i won't forget this for a long time, nor will many others. You need to read about it, but again, i warn of the graphic description.

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Packer's Gay 'Tendencies' Remark Edited On Mormon Church Site

The Mormon Church has retroactively edited leader Boyd K. Packer's controversial speech from last week.

Where once the text on the Church of Latter-Day Saints' website included Packer's actual comments, "Some suppose that they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember he is our father," the text now reads "temptations," rather than "tendencies."

Also, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that the line about the "heavenly father" has been scrubbed all together, most likely because of the protests spawned by Packer's remarks.

 

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Towleroad Guide To The Tube #748

RHYMES WITH ORANGE: Anderson Cooper talks rapping with Eminem.

GOOD WITH KIDS: Johnny Depp makes school fun.

OH, BABY!: Amazing cartoon Rocko's Modern Life pushed the envelope.

"I WAS TIRED:" Rick Sanchez claims exhaustion in Jon Stewart "bigot" scandal.

For more Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

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Movies: Diane Gets Horsey, Michelle Becomes Marilyn, Depp Visits School, Harry Grows Fangs

 What is it with girls and horses?

NATHANIEL ROGERS
...watches trailers through fingers (too many spoilers) and waits impatiently for the feature. He blogs daily at the Film Experience.

NOW PLAYING
From here on out each year the weekends bring us a a mix of Oscar hopefuls and regular popcorn fare. Bolting out of the gate this weekend is the inspirational sports drama SECRETARIAT which hopes to be both. Diane Lane is "Penny Chenery", Secretariat's owner, who promises to deliver a triple crown. It's a true story so one guess as to whether she manages this astonishing feat. The critical reaction is already fascinating with Roger Ebert, whose tastes tend to dovetail with Oscar voters, declaring "4 stars!" while others like Andrew O'Hehir at Salon proclaim it Tea-Party flavored which is, as you may have guessed, not a compliment. But despite how often Hollywood and the Academy are accused of being "liberal elite" Hollywood is actually quite an aesthetically conservative place and they respond well to right-wing friendly films (Forrest Gump and The Blind Side being just a couple of famous examples.) If the film is a hit, Oscar contention could definitely follow. It's definitely trying to play it like The Blind Side.

NOWHERE BOY, a film about John Lennon's (Aaron Johnson) early years is also opening in limited release. It probably won't get too far with Oscar as it's a fairly mild pre-fame biopic and they prefer the full birth-to-death approach but it does contain two smashing performances from Kristin Scott Thomas and Anne-Marie Duff as Lennon's "aunties" which are both worth a look. Scott Thomas recently told French Première that she doesn't need awards but here's hoping she wins some traction for another marvelous turn. She's way too good to be continually sidelined in English language features. Only the French know what to do with her these days.

ALSO OPENING: Look! It's everyone's favorite gay TV teen (give or take Glee's Kurt) "Marshall" from United States of Tara.

More AFTER THE JUMP

Actually, that's not Marshall but Keir Gilchrist, the actor who plays him. In the new comedy IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY, Gilchrist is still surrounded by the craycray but this time it's not Toni Collette and her "alters" but a whole mental ward. And this time he's straight and falling for fellow mental patient Emma Roberts; Speaking of multiple personalities... If you've longed to hear Ed Norton do a funny character voice again after his two-faced breakthrough in Primal Fear (1996) check out his reedy-voiced foul-mouthed convict STONE. Will Robert DeNiro deem him rehabilitated and sane enough to return to regular society?; Out director Greg Berlanti's romantic comedy LIFE AS WE KNOW IT starring Katharine Heigl, Josh Duhamel and Josh Duhamel's underpants is also opening.

BONUS SCENES

Did you hear that Johnny Depp visited a  school dressed as Captain Sparrow in response to a nine year-old's plea? Even if you're tired of the Jack Sparrow shtick  that is so cool.

Blue Valentine, a portrait of a disintegrating marriage between Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams (giving two utterly fantastic performances) just got some very bad news. It's been slapped with the dread NC-17 rating which makes it very hard for a movie to see theaters. Now, the movie was never going to be a multiplex hit being a grim indie marital drama but it would have played in major markets. Having seen the movie I can't recall what on earth would have warranted this (there's no penis shots -- they hate those -- and not a lot of nudity all told) but some people are claiming it's an uncomfortable sex scene between the spouses when she doesn't really want to have sex. (Imagine not wanting to have sex with Ryan Gosling!) Others claim it's an oral sex / female orgasm issue. The MPAA, the board that rates movies, historically hates to see women experience sexual pleasure onscreen. A rape scene will get you an R but show a woman's face in closeup while she's experiencing an orgasm and they'll hand you an NC-17. If you've ever seen the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated it's well worth a look for its detailed expose of their sex-phobia, misogyny and homophobia.

Did you hear that Daniel Radcliffe is joining the endless list of celebrities who've made guest "appearances" on the Simpsons. Here's the twist: He's playing "Edward" from Twilight instead of Harry Potter. The episode will air on November 7th.

Speaking of Harry Potter, Warner Bros has cancelled the 3D conversation of The Death Hallows Part 1 (yay!) Oh and also: If you've been aching to see Ryan Reynolds all glowing and green, the Green Lantern trailer will debut in front of the new Potter next month.

It's been ages since Brad & Angelina co-starred in Mr & Mrs Smith (2005), but The Tiger, a future film on Darren Aronofsky's (Black Swan) To-Do Calendar may reunite the world's most watched movie star couple. But before that Aronofsky may or may not reunite with Hugh Jackman (The Fountain) to make the Wolverine sequel. Why do creative maestros like Darren Aronofsky, who make films as intense and intimate as The Wrestler and as visually striking as Requiem for a Dream leave all that behind for franchises? Here's why.

THE CLASSICS

  Or, rather a reinterpretation of a classic. Here's the first pic of Michelle Williams doing her best Marilyn Monroe. 

 My Week With Marilyn is about to start shooting. Michelle plays Marilyn (as visualized) and Kenneth Branagh will play the supporting role of Sir Laurence Olivier. The drama, based on the book of the same name, takes place during the shooting of The Prince and the Showgirl, and is about Marilyn's week long escape with a crew member (Eddie Redmayne). Other actors doing mimicry include Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller and Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh. I can't imagine anyone pulling off Vivien Leigh but maybe that's just me. Vivien slays me.

What do you think of this Michelle/Marilyn hybrid?

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News: New York Arrests, Brett Favre And Playing Gay In Israel

New York City police have arrested seven people for their alleged roles in two separate but related anti-gay attacks last week. The men, part of the "Latin King Goonies" gang reportedly robbed one victim and held three others against their will early Sunday morning. The details are horrifying: "[Police Commisioner Ray] Kelly says the crew forced [a] 17-year-old into an unoccupied ground-floor apartment on Osborne Place, where he was thrown into a wall, made to strip naked, hit in the head with a beer can, cut with a box cutter and sodomized with the wooden handle of a plunger."

Mad Men and Desperative Housewives actor Sam Page says it's hard not to have a crush on Blake Lively, with whom he'll appear on Gossip Girl. Page should be on every show ever, in my opinion. [On a related note: Mad Men and Desperate share a lot of actors: Page, John Slattery and Mark Moses. Any I'm missing?]

A love letter to Martha Plimpton.

Gay Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger's all over the place: in the Washington Blade and in U.S. News and World Report. Of his GOP candidacy, Karger remarks, "I'm probably the most radical gay activist we have, even though I wear blue suits."

Jon Hamm's pants perpetually leave little to the imagination. And you know what? That's more than okay.

Tea Party Congressional candidate Art Robinson of Oregon doesn't want to listen to what Rachel Maddow has to say, even though she's quoting his paper about global warming.

A note on the shortage of gay comic book characters: "Here’s the great gay paradox; homophobia is best tackled by greater gay visibility, and gay visibility is held back because of homophobia – most notably the pernicious claim that homosexuality does not belong in any medium that might be seen by children. This is grounded in a great misconception; that homosexuality is all about sex, while heterosexuality is all about love."

The ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, the nation's largest such collection, have been donated to USC. I bet they have plenty of information on the Ariston Baths.

National Security Adviser Gen. James L. Jones has stepped down, and will be replaced by Thomas E. Donilon.

Former Senator Rick Santorum, long an anti-gay crusader, has been stepping up his political action in Iowa, leading many to suspect he's plotting a 2012 presidential run.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn thinks that he and his peers can win civil unions by the end of the year.

Ick. Walmart is currently selling an anti-gay children's book. "The number of our young people involved in sexual sins has greatly increased in recent years.  Some of the most stalwart-seeming youth find themselves involved in pornography, fornication, promiscuity, homosexuality, and the like," explained author Janice Barrett Graham of the book, entitled Chased by an Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today’s Stampeding Sexuality.

Religious leaders have come out against Serbia's gay pride parade, which will be held this weekend.

The NFL has launched an investigation into a report that football player Brett Favre sent pictures of his penis to a New York Jets staffer.

Gays in New Zealand defend a cruising area on Rabbit Island, calling it an "asset."

Has Hungary been concealing the truth about the toxicity of the waste that spilled this week? Greenpeace says "yes."

Actor Jamil Khoury will play a gay Arab on the Israeli version of The Office, and the response hasn't always been good: "People say shame on you, how can you do this? Just for acting it. It's not so common. I know there are a lot of Arab gays here but nobody knows about them; they stay closed."

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Remembering The Ariston Baths, New York's First Anti-Gay Raid

New York City gay bar The Stonewall Inn received a lot of attention this week, after two men attacked one of its patrons. It was an astonishing story, and few could believe something reportedly homophobic could go down at the bar, known as the epicenter for a 1969 revolt against anti-gay police raids. Those protests, of course, helped spark the modern gay right movement, cementing Stonewall's place in history.

While Stonewall deserves plenty of recognition for its pivotal role as the rebellion's backdrop, it wasn't the first New York City establishment to be raided over its patrons' sexuality. That, um, honor goes toraid the Ariston Bathhouse, where police detained 60 men, and arrested 14, in a February, 21, 1903 sting, all the while referring to suspects as "maude" and "indignant lady."

The New York Times reported at the time, "[Inspector Brooks said evidence has been gathered for week against the place and that the conduct of some of the frequenters of the establishment was questionable." Transcripts from the subsequent  trials illuminate the horror and hilarity of homophobia in early New York.

I recently made my way to John Jay Criminal College's Lloyd Sealy Library in New York City to take a look at the microfilmed court transcripts, most of which are from the early spring of 1903.  The documents are at times amusing in their detail. Here, for example, is an exchange between a prosecutor and one of the undercover police dispatched to the bath house, once located at 55th and Broadway, and one of the city's man bathhouses at the time.

Q: What did you notice the defendant do?
A: He walked over to the couch that the man Walter Bennett was lying on... And he placed his penis in the anus of the man Walter Bennett, and kept it there for a short time.
Q: Now, did you notice the state of the defendant's genital organ or penis, at the time that, as you say, he placed it in the anus of the man Walter Bennett?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: In what state was it?
A: It was in a state of erection.
Q: And what, if anything, did he do to Bennett other than that act?
A: Oh, he laid down, after he withdrew his penis from -
Q: Well, after he withdrew his penis, did you notice the penis of the defendant?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: And in what condition was the penis of the defendant, after he had withdrawn it from the anus of Bennett?
A: In a state of collapse.

This exchange illustrates the neurotic specificity Americans had about sexuality, particularly homosexuality, at the dawn of the 20th century, only 107-years ago. Desire and sex had been systematically broken down, rationalized into "good" and "bad," and picked apart from every angle. Oral sex becomes this: "[He] took the penis of he defendant in his mouth and made indecent motions."

While cultural evolution allows us to laugh at the prosecutorial analysis, the court's overall attitude is anything but funny. The judge had no problem voicing his distaste over the case, and wrote in his opinion:

We cannot disguise the fact that any reference to the testimony in the case must necessarily be very unpleasant and disagreeable. It affects the very self respect for ourselves and regard for humanity. It brings to the mind a species of horror to think that any person, any human being endowed with intelligence, with reason, would be guilty of such horrible practices...

Even one of the defense attorneys claimed the details were "revolting:" "The mere statement of the crime charged against the defendant is liable to carry with it a certain revulsion off feelings that may be reasonably entertained by every man who has a decent regard for the proprieties and manliness of his sex."

The prosecutors were quite persuasive: of the twelve men put on trial, seven received multiple years in prison. There were no protests, no marches to oppose the decision. The men were simply ushered off to jail, victims of early America's widespread homophobia, and forgotten by history.

Surely we've come a long way since the 1903 Ariston Trials. As the Stonewall attack and other homophobic incidents show, however, there's still more work to be done before the Ariston judge's 1903 opinion on homosexuality has been eradicated entirely.

Image Note: This is not the Ariston Bathhouse. Rather, it's another bathhouse, located on Bowery, in the year 1884, less than two decades after the word "homosexual" was first used.

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