Ameriqueer

This is a big story. My latest piece at Bilerico.com on the brou-ha-ha that's been getting whipped up today in Illinois. Please check it out. Illinois GOP Senate primaries hit a homophobic low-note | The Bilerico Project : "While openly gay Jacob Meister campaigns over on the Democratic side, it seems the Republican contest for the Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama is the contest with the real gay scandal. Illinois Republican Representative and active Navy Intelligence reservist Mark Kirk--who has voted against the homophobic Federal Marriage Amendment, and in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act--now has to field schoolyard taunts from one of his primary competitors, Andy Martin; the 'Obama is secretly Muslim' guy. Comparing this situation with a similar controversy taking place in the same race for the other party's candidate, openly gay Democratic primary candidate, Jacob Meister, released a statement this afternoon, saying in part: A...

My newest Bilerico.com post is about the sanest person ever! On opposite day! Either this is the best joke ever, or we've got ourselves a nut! | The Bilerico Project : "Hi-Caliber rapped on camera for progressive blogger Max Blumenthal at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference. You know. CPAC. The one being sponsored this year by GOProud but not letting them say anything. That conference. The former New Jersey construction worker told Blumenthal that he was converted to Conservatism when his radio broke in his car and became stuck on Bilerico.com's best friend, Michael Savage. I think I'd go crazy too if all I was able to listen to was Savage Nation. Henceforth, Hi-Caliber--Mr. Conservative--has set out to be the first conservative rap star. His first music video was filmed at this spring's 'teabagger' march on Washington. Check out the diversity! They actually found one non-white person and got so excited they showed him twice! Once from the fr...

I'm going to turn each headline into a link, but until I have the time for that... here it is just as is: my review of the LGBT decade! The American LGBT Decade 2000-2009 : "Technically we're still a bit over 365 days until the end of the decade--we began in year 1 not year zero--but who wants to miss the boat on a trend? The last ten years have been a roller-coaster ride for the American LGBT community, but luckily, we seem to be ending off better than we started. The end of the nineties saw some of the most celebrated moments in gay history: the coming-out of Ellen and Elton, and the premier of Will and Grace. We also we horrified as a community by the headline-grabbing brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, which eventually led--eleven years later--to the creation of a Federal hate crimes law that protects LGBT people. The decade that brought us 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' and DOMA would soon be topped by the decade that brought us Dumbledore and GaGa. 2000: ...

To call me a single issue voter is an exaggeration, but not a gross exaggeration, and its a charged lobbed at me often for good reason--I'm Mr. Gay. I wouldn't call myself a single issue voter because workers' rights, climate change and health care are all extremely important to me--not to mention immigration reform. However, we all know my TOP political issue is, and will always be LGBT rights--at least until the United States is able to pass UAFA, ENDA, DPBO and repeal DOMA and DADT. Lots of letters, I know. You don't have to know exactly what they all mean right now. Just know they're important. Because I'm ALMOST a single issue voter, I appreciated this Festivus gift that Michael A Jones from Change.org dropped in my lap this week. Its a list of the TOP FIVE straight allies in Congress. I know who I'm NOT sending lumps of coal to this year! On the contrary, I plan to drop a little change in their reelection buckets come January. Without straight ...

Remember when I told you (over at Bilerico.com ) about that certain Senator's husband who crashed a Jim Madigan fundraiser ? Well looks like y'all were reading and talking! Drunk Husband of State Senator Heather Steans Crashes Fundraiser of Rival Jim Madigan | WindyCitizen.com : "The Commish 1 week 22 hours ago Sweet, this story just hit #1. Good work, team. This is a silly incident even by Illinois standards." So the drunk Leo Smith story has taken on a life of its own, and I'm really glad that it has. Just as "The Commish" says, its a silly incident even in this state of silly incidents. But WindyCitizen.com isn't the only outlet to have picked up my version of the piece: Heather Steans' Drunk Husband Crashes Jim Madigan Fundraiser - Feast of Fun - Chicagonow.com : "This was just put up on the Fresh section of Feast of Fun Jim Madigan, the openly-gay former director of Equality Illinois running for the state Senate was having a fundrai...

A year ago I was a struggling middle school teacher--one whom half of the students and half of the parents hated, and one who was doing everything he could to hold it together emotionally. Today I'm a grad student and blogger whose content is now being picked up and linked all over. I want to thank Queeried.com for the props here! Recording Academy Says Buju Banton Isn’t Homophobic It’s Just His Cultural Perspective : "You can still sign GLAAD’s online petition against the nomination, but one of the strongest ways to really show the Recording Academy this is not okay is to not watch the show. As Phil Reese of The Bilerico Project said you’ll be able to catch all the best bits (which this year seems to involve falling over) on Youtube the next day anyway." I go!

How Marriage Happened: In the District, a time to celebrate and defend equality : "This week, the D.C. City Council voted 11-2 to legalize marriages between same-sex couples. This is a milestone for the LGBT movement for a number of important reasons. First, the overwhelming vote proves we can win legislatively. Second, D.C. will be the first majority-minority jurisdiction to legalize marriage. And, third, D.C. will be the first place below the Mason-Dixon Line to end discrimination against same-sex couples and their families. This achievement is the result of years of work by a range of committed organizations and individual activists who in a careful and methodical fashion created and implemented a comprehensive strategy that has us at the brink of marriage equality. Groups like the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, which helped to elect supportive candidates to the Council; Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, which worked with members of the Council on policy; and DC for Marriage...

Ed Mullen wants to make more gay history in Illinois : "Ed Mullen, Democratic candidate for Illinois State Assembly District 11, got a bit of good news this weekend. He found out that the Victory Fund will officially endorse him in his primary. ed-portrait.jpgThis is good news for his home town of Chicago, good news for Illinois, and good news for marriage equality nationwide. The openly gay civil rights lawyer who attended law-school in Washington D.C., Ed Mullen is competing for the open seat against Dan Farley and Ann Williams in the February 2 primaries in this fairly gay and overwhelmingly progressive Democratic district that includes Chicago's 'other' gayborhood, Andersonville, and 'hugs' the famous 'Boystown' neighborhood on its north and west sides. Mullen is hoping to join the Northwest side's Deb Mel (40th District incumbent being challenged by openly gay man Joe Laiacona) and tried and true Greg Harris (14th District) as the third openly ...

Federal hate crime charges possible in gay Puerto Rican teenager’s murder :: EDGE on the Net : "A federal prosecutor on Puerto Rico said earlier today her office would file hate crime charges against the man who reportedly confessed to killing gay teenager Jorge Steven López Mercado if local authorities do not." The local law enforcement's handling of the vicious, brutal murder of young Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado has been awful. I'm glad its getting the attention and care it deserves now.

Husband of openly gay Illinois Senate candidate's rival makes a scene at Jim Madigan fundraiser. | The Bilerico Project : "What on earth was Heather Steans' husband Leo Smith doing at the Jim Madigan community fundraiser Thursday night (even though he didn't pay to get in)? It certainly wasn't a diplomatic outreach mission. The prominent donor to shamed former Governor Rod Blagojevich approached Madigan at his event at The Call last night in Andersonville Chicago while Madigan was in the midst of a slightly friendlier conversation with Jacob Meister, the openly gay candidate seeking Barak Obama's former United States Senate seat. 'I'm not here for your event! I know you think you're gonna get famous with all your BULLSHIT! But those things are about me!' The photos speaks for itself, Smith is obviously disheveled and angry. Onlookers have noted that Smith was belligerent and out-of-sorts. He'd been drinking in a corner of the bar for an hour...

oadecember09.pdf (application/pdf Object) Please check out my first column in Out & About Illinois magazine on newsstands this week! LGBT Politics and Life: When the News Knocks at your Door Mother told me there are three things you never talk about in polite company: sex, religion and politics. Unfortunately for her, thanks to my father her boy has always been a very politically-oriented person. Current events was the ‘sports’ of our household, and political campaigns is the major leagues of the news. Back when I was a kid there were two things that happened once every four years and you never missed a minute of it unless you were in a coma: The Olympics and the election (or reelection) of another American President. I became a political junkie at a young age. I think, however, I’m a rare duck in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Most gays and lesbians are content to live their lives every day just being the best citizens they can possibly be. They aren’t radic...

Gapers Block : Mechanics : Chicago Politics - Illinois Democrats Put Off LGBT Rights...Again : "Gays and lesbians can go ahead and scratch Civil Unions off their holiday wish list this season, as a Nov. 30 deadline for moving on Civil Unions legislation passed with almost no action by the Democratic-controlled Illinois legislature -- except to create a new deadline nearly half a year away. The fact that the deadline was missed comes as no surprise, considering the state legislature has been adjourned for weeks and is not scheduled to meet again until Jan. 12. Still, this is just one more turn in a complex holding pattern the state Democrats have locked this bill into." Doesn't this just piss you off? I think we definitely need more out gay lawmakers. If Illinois--a state that borders Iowa--was to pass civil unions or equal marriage, our ballot procedure would make it very difficult to overturn at the polls. IF we ever get it passed, that is. We would need a miracle. E...

Mice Prove Gender Isn't Fixed at Birth - Battle of the sexes rages inside each individual : "If you think your gender is a fixed part of who you are, a pioneering study suggests you should think again. In it, scientists turned the ovary cells of adult female mice into male testicular tissue by switching off a single gene—one that's found in all mammals. The study unravels the long-held assumption that gender is fixed from birth, implying that in fact the adult body is the site of a constant battle between male and female genes. The findings could explain biological mysteries such as why some women develop male traits after menopause, and 'may eventually remove the need for surgery in gender-reassignment treatment,' one of the researchers tells the Independent." SO IMPORTANT!

Testing, lovelies. Don't worry. Will be back with real stuff soon enough!

In anti-gay attack, AIM falsely asserts "pedophile" Jennings was "teaching 14-year-old boys" about sexual practices | Media Matters for America : "In attacking the media for allegedly insufficient coverage of Obama administration official Kevin Jennings, a blogger for Accuracy in Media, which purports to 'set the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage' -- and which has a record of antagonism toward gays -- smeared Jennings as a 'pedophile' and falsely claimed that '[v]ideos have surfaced of Jennings teaching 14-year-old boys the dangerous sexual practice of 'fisting,' and discussing with them the particulars of oral sex.' In fact, Jennings did not conduct that seminar and, in fact, reportedly criticized it when he became aware of its content." AIM is a crock. They're nothing more than Republican mouthpieces.

Love Takes Over : "Love Takes Over is a nationwide initiative calling on citizens to write to their local newspapers about marriage equality during the week of January 3rd-January 9th. Love Takes Over seeks to promote and foster dialogue about marriage equality on a local level." I'm doing it. Are you?

Glad to know that the Recording Academy is so interested in celebrating diversity... Over the last decade, Buju Banton has reemerged as one of the most blatantly homophobic celebrities in the world--especially after 2006 when a judge dropped all charges against him for storming the residence of six suspected gay men and severely beating them to the point of permanent injury. He has repeatedly been caught singing his 1992 pro-murder hit "Boom, Bye Bye" after pledging not to sing it anymore. In 2007 he was the last signer of the "Reggae Compassion Act" pledging to refuse to sing homophobic lyrics anymore, only to immediately after deny ever signing it. In October 2009 , after agreeing to meet with members of the San Francisco gay and lesbian center about the homophobic content in his music, Buju Banton refused their requests to stop promoting the murder of gays and lesbians, and to make an anti-violence statement. days later he proceeded to pronounce, "This is a ...

Dr. Jillian Weiss over at Bilerico.com is pissed, and with good reason. Today is ZERO HOUR on ENDA, we need three Representatives in the Committee responsible for it--House Committee on Education and Labor--to demand that chairman George Miller schedule a markup of the ENDA bill so it may have a chance of passing in this Congress. Over days and days, Jillian and other ENDA proponents promoted her Change.org petition to the Committee, and how many people signed it? 260. Out of 30,000,000 LGBT people in the United States--not to mention allies--260 signed the petition. Folks, you want marriage equality? If we can't even get these gutless politicians to make a move on EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS so that people can have JOBS and LIVE, how the hell do you think we're going to get them to support something SO MUCH MORE CONTROVERSIAL as MARRIAGE EQUALITY? You have to walk before you run, folks. If you want marriage equality, you need to open the door with ENDA. Take a look at what D...