My Uncle Jim recognized me in the background of a small picture in Time magazine, and made the effort to cut the clipping and mail it to me.

When anyone in my parents’ generation would see someone’s child in the paper, that’s what they’d do: cut it out and mail it off, so they’d have extra copies. And even in these days of email forwards and blogging, there’s nothing quite like getting a clipping in the mail, especially when you didn’t know about the article in the first place. Continue reading →

Joe My God tipped me off to this great video of the Wisconsin protestors singing a tune from Les Miserables. I can only imagine there must be a few homosexuals in the union mix out there to pull off such a flawless, heartfelt rendition of “Do You Hear the People Sing?”

Touching.

Out magazine has just published my interview the the stars of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – the Musical. It was a rather new type of writing assignment for me. I went to the Pierre Hotel after  nearly eight hours of being in a public school in the South Bronx. Having been surrounded by Eva Moskowtiz trained lilliputians, to then find myself on a set filled with Broadway leading men, drag queens, and photographer Roger Erickson, was quite a drastic change.

I did tell the men and the queens that I’d first seen the film the Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert when I was in high school. I did not tell them I also staged a show of my own – Hot to Plot, the Muscial! – which also utilized “I Will Survive” around the same time.

Yesterday, I wrote an overview of how quickly a porn king was able to scuttle a planned Israel Apartheid Week event at New York’s LGBT Center. Today I talked to a member of the group that was evicted from the Center, Sherry Wolf, on the Voice Runnin’ Scared blog. Joe My God is already weighing in. Beyond the questions surrounding Israel and Palestine, Wolf raises salient queeries about the role of free and controversial speech, even in a homosexual community center in Manhattan.

I just got off of a conference call with the Courage Campaign. As a major fighter against Proposition 8, they were, of course, quite interested in President Obama’s declaration that he’ll no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act. (You can read my analysis of that over at the Voice Runnin’ Scared blog.)

On the call was one Derence Kernek, making the case for marriage right now. An exceedingly polite man, you could tell that he did not want to wait for the California Supreme Court to rule on Prop 8’s standing, or for the DOJ to passively let DOMA (hopefully) die in the courts. He doesn’t have time for that.

You see, Derence’s partner Ed of some 40 years has Alzheimer’s disease. Continue reading →

Which of these three things is the most incendiary?

I think it’s the one in the middle. But together, they make a powerful trifecta.

It only took gay porn king Michael Lucas (left) about eight hours to get an “Israeli Apartheid Week” event scuttled  at New York’s LGBT center.

I try to explain how it all went down here.

Last week, an old friend announced their divorce on facebook. Today, I wrote 10 Rules for Reacting to Facebook Break-Up Notifications on the Voice Runnin’ Scared blog. Check it out and let me know what you think. (Hint: If you “like” a break-up, be prepared for the blow back.)

One of my favorite working writers and all-around good natured human beings in my life right now is Roy Edroso. Roy the writer of the excellent alicublog, my one-time cubicle mate at the Voice, and the writer behind the great column “The Voice Explores-the Right Wing Blogosphere.” This week’s entry, “Rightbloggers Denounce the Wealthy, Treasonous Schoolteachers of Wisconsin” is, as usual, excellent and spot-on. If you want to get a sense of what goes on in the right wing blogs without having to wade through them yourself, check out Roy’s weekly round-up.

Continue reading →