Daily Archives: March 21, 2015
Gay Iconography: Tracy Chapman's Political Folk
Gay Iconography: Tracy Chapman's Political Folk
Earlier this week, beloved pop star and American Idol Kelly Clarkson delivered a powerful performance of “Give Me One Reason,” originally performed by folk singer Tracy Chapman. And, while Kelly is adored by legions of fans gay and straight, Chapman has earned her spot as a legendary singer, songwriter and activist.
Growing up amidst racial tension in Cleveland’s recently integrated schools, Chapman’s interest in social activism was stoked at an early age. She grew up in a working-class household, raised by her mother, but received a scholarship to attend a private school and then graduated from Tufts University. She described her educational experience to The Guardian in 2008:
“The city had been forced to integrate the schools so they were bussing black children into white neighborhoods, and white children into black neighborhoods, and people were upset about it so there were race riots. A lot of kids spent more time out of school than in, but I always loved school and thought it was my way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty.”
While Chapman has been steadfast about keeping her personal and professional life separate, she did have a romantic relationship with author Alice Walker in the 1990s, which Walker discussed with The Guardian in 2013. As a socially-conscious artist, Chapman has been an advocate for LGBT rights and AIDS-research, among other human rights issues.
Relive some of our favorite Tracy Chapman performances, AFTER THE JUMP …
On June 11, 1988, Chapman was one of many performers at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium. It was a truly star-making turn for the young performer. Stevie Wonder was slated to perform later in the show, but when some of his equipment was missing, he had to postpone his set, sending producers into a scramble. They brought Chapman back out for a second appearance on the massive broadcast shown to 67 countries and 600 million viewers. Before the event, Chapman had sold 250,000 records, but in the two weeks following, she sold two million.
Chapman’s 1988 self-titled debut featured one of her most enduring hits to date, the gorgeous escape fantasy, “Fast Car.” The track peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Rolling Stone ranked it at 167 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time in 2010.
One of the organizations Chapman has supported throughout her career is Amnesty International. “I’m approached by lots of organizations and lots of people who want me to support their various charitable efforts in some way,” she told NPR in 2009. “And I look at those requests and I basically try to do what I can. And I have certain interest of my own, generally an interest in human rights, so that’s partly why I’ve supported Amnesty International for all these years.” She built a devoted international audience during the 1988 Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour. You can see her perform “Why” on the tour in the clip above.
One of Chapman’s politically-charged songs is “Talkin’ Bout A Revolution.” The dynamic tune includes lyrics like “Don’t you know, they’re talkin’ ’bout a revolution/It sounds like a whisper/While they’re standing in the welfare lines/Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation/Wasting time, in the unemployment lines/Sitting around, waiting for a promotion.”
Her biggest hit ever is “Give Me One Reason,” which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It earned her a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
What’s your favorite Tracy Chapman track?
Bobby Hankinson
www.towleroad.com/2015/03/gay-iconography-tracy-chapmans-political-folk.html
Its o.k to be LGBT
Its o.k to be LGBT
Op-ed: Don't Mention Aaron's Schock's Belt Ever Again
Op-ed: Don't Mention Aaron's Schock's Belt Ever Again
Aaron Schock’s rise and fall shows that even gay people still cling to gay stereotypes.
Matt Baume
Gay Dad Has Message For Dolce & Gabbana: Surrogacy Creates Loving, Well-Adjusted Children
Gay Dad Has Message For Dolce & Gabbana: Surrogacy Creates Loving, Well-Adjusted Children
“I wish I had some Dolce & Gabbana crap so I could burn it.” – Reads a note posted by one of my witty on Facebook this week.
I usually don’t get worked up by stupidity. Luckily, there are enough hotheads in the news and social media that I can sit back and enjoy the public stoning of broadcast faux pas. Instead, I get worked up about nerdier stuff, such as campaign finance reform. However, many people have asked me what I think of the recent comments by fashion moguls Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who were a couple for 23 years.
First, I roll my eyes at their “bling” with gold logos splashed all over tacky glasses, bags and clothes.
But then I really rolled my eyes when I read their statement that children of IVF are “children of chemistry, synthetic children. Uteruses for rent, semen chosen from a catalog.”
D&G later stated, “Our views are traditional, not judgmental.”
I give them credit for sticking their ground and not making public apologies to rectify the vicious backlash against their brand.
And semantically speaking, were they wrong? My children (produced via IVF and artificial insemination) could be considered “children of chemistry”. But taking that argument to a logical conclusion, aren’t all children “of chemistry”? Egg and sperm meeting creates a chemical reaction, right?
So D&G define traditionalism by their conservative Italian Catholic upbringing, a community whose edicts were constructed by a bunch of white men with zero experience in child rearing or long-term partnership (at least in the open).
Looking past archaic conservative Catholicism, what can the rest of us reasonably define as what is provided by a “traditional” family? Can we all agree on love and nurturing?
Does that require a mother and a father? Well, sometimes kids have to make do with their single mothers, single fathers, commune parents or older siblings. It’s not ideal, but they make do. And they’ve been making do ever since sickness and war began stealing parents away since…well, the same time period that women have had sisterly love and men have made brotherly love.
But gay parenting is not accidental chance like a suddenly single mother.
So is my child missing something by not having a mother? I ask myself that a lot. It was a major consideration before my partner and I started down the surrogacy path.
My French “mother” (long story) drilled me for years (and continues to do so) asking, “Don’t you think your son might be missing something, not having the nurturing bond with a mother? Or that the surrogate incubated your child, but didn’t foment love in the womb?”
Maybe.
But…my children eat their vegetables, don’t throw temper tantrums when I leave them with babysitters, snuggle with me on the couch, fall asleep in my arms, have twinkles in their eyes when they laugh with me, seek my approval, show off their “tricks” to me, run to me for comfort, stop crying when I hold them, laugh easily when I play “peek-a-boo,” nap wonderfully, charm strangers, easily stop fighting when I intervene, obey me, identify themselves as the children of two fathers, readily hug their friends and teachers, sing, dance, play, adore each other, would prefer to be with me than doing anything alone (but play by themselves, too), and run to embrace my partner and me every single time we walk in the door.
My kids love and love. And they are well-adjusted. They aren’t brats. They aren’t hyper-active, they aren’t obnoxious (despite my over-dramatic blog rants.)
So maybe they’re missing a cosmic, ethereal, uteran bond that other kids have?
I know my partner and I more than make up for that.
As for you, Messieurs Dolce & Gabbana, your “family values” juxtapose your professional aesthetic; one that fosters superficiality and actually undermines the traditional family.
Your ad campaigns trumpeting “traditional” Italian families, insult your Italian/Catholic roots. Endless macho men and air-brushed woman posing as “happily married” do not promote family values. They promote insecurity, superficiality and your own bank accounts.
Further, your ads prep children for disappointment. “Why doesn’t my traditional family look like that? Why can’t I be that beautiful/skinny/rich?”
Instead of helping make the world a better place (through, for example, compassionate parenting) you cultivate greed, lust and envy with your tacky materialism.
What quicker way to dismantle families?
Get it together, D&G: stop trumpeting antiquated ideas of what a traditional family should be, and help the rest of us celebrate the dysfunctional, devoted, beautiful families that the rest of us really are.
Gavin Lodge is a Broadway performer, father and blogger. This essay was first published on Daddy Coping In Style.
Jeremy Kinser
Trans Activist Michael Hughes Discusses Viral #WeJustNeedToPee Campaign With MSNBC's Thomas Roberts: VIDEO
Trans Activist Michael Hughes Discusses Viral #WeJustNeedToPee Campaign With MSNBC's Thomas Roberts: VIDEO
Michael Hughes had been suicidal for years — and even attempted to take his life once — when he accidentally stumbled upon a book that would change his life forever.
The book was “Body Alchemy,” by photographer Loren Cameron, a compilation of images of trans men before and after their transitions.
“It was the first time I realized that I could do something about it, and there was a path to take to become the person I knew myself to be,” Hughes said. “So within a couple of weeks of that I packed up and moved from Texas to Boston, Massachusetts, and changed my name a week later, and started this crazy journey.
Hughes, of course, is the 45-year-old Minnesota activist who brought the #WeJustNeedToPee campaign to the US, following the lead of Canada’s Brae Carnes. The campaign continues to garner significant attention, and this week Hughes appeared on MSNBC to discuss it with Thomas Roberts.
Hughes also spoke to The Advocate, explaining that for him personally, the campaign marked a major turning point:
“It was a bit of a tough decision, I knew I was forever outing myself,” but “I knew I could get at some of these conservatives by showing them a tall bearded man in a women’s bathroom,” Hughes says, taking a break from preparing himself for a Wednesday interview on MSNBC about the selfie campaign. Hughes notes that before the unexpected publicity his photos have garnered, he primarily lived stealth — a term used in the trans community when a trans person is not open about their trans status.
Hughes said despite the campaign’s popularity, he’s gotten some negative feedback from within the LGBT community. But Hughes, a father of four, said he wishes more trans people would follow his lead and become more visible:
“Our youngest had to come out to her friends [about having a trans parent] when this broke,” he says. “She’s so brave and she was so proud to do it. She brought me cupcakes yesterday because she wanted to celebrate with me!
“It’s sad that [legislators] imagine us to be these people that are so removed from normal,” Hughes laments. “Yet we’re as normal as the family next door.”
Watch Hughes’ interview with Roberts and check out some of the latest photos from the #WeJustNeedToPee campaign, AFTER THE JUMP …
According to a few States, this is the restroom I am supposed to use. #wejustneedtopee pic.twitter.com/AOh6mbnWro
— Alexandra Billings (@AlexSBillings) March 18, 2015
#PlettPutMeHere #occupotty #translivesmatter #wejustneedtopee pic.twitter.com/ARDJC9gPOv
— Katherine Kaplan (@katk925) March 13, 2015
Coming soon to a red state near you. #wejustneedtopee pic.twitter.com/CZRWANIfIn
— April Foster (@aprilfosterrr) March 13, 2015
John Wright
・・・EVERY 1ST & 3RD FRIDAYS #SpringBreak Is Here And #IgniteDMV & #K5Entertainment Are Giving You The Hottest #2015SpringFling Club Crawl To Hit The #DMVNightLife… The Eventful Weekend Kicks Off On FRIDAY, March 20th… The Place To Be At Is #CAPTALE Whe
Was It Good For The Gays: ‘The Object Of My Affection'
Was It Good For The Gays: ‘The Object Of My Affection'
If you’re going to make a movie about queer people, you’re likely going to get a divisive response. Does it reinforce negative stereotypes? Does it provide an accurate cross-section of the diverse LGBT community? How many think pieces will it incite? In this regular column, we’ll look at depictions of queers in cinema and ask, Was It Good For The Gays? Today we look at Nicholas Hytner‘s 1998 romantic comedy, “The Object of My Affection.”
Straight Married Teen Weighs The Pros And Cons Of Performing In Gay Adult Films
Straight Married Teen Weighs The Pros And Cons Of Performing In Gay Adult Films
Last month we heard about a married straight man trying to decide if he should divulge his gay porn past to his wife of 18 years. We’re pretty sure he’s going to keep it a secret.
Now from the depths of Reddit comes the reverse scenario — a 19-year-old married straight man boy who is strongly considering gay porn as a viable revenue stream. His wife “likes the idea.”
He explains that, “We both come from not-well-off families. I have a decent job, but we only make enough to cover bills…We discussed a few ways to get more income, and decided this wasn’t the worst idea.”
“It doesn’t bother her because it’s with guys, strange as that sounds,” he adds. “She says it’s because ‘she can’t give me what a guy can.’”
Many a commenter’s curiosity was piqued by the original poster’s willingness to go gay-for-pay so openly.
Here’s how he responded to their questions:
Have you had sex with men before?
No, I have not. I did a little bit of experimenting/flirting in high school but it never led to anything sexual with another guy. The thought of it doesn’t bother me though.
Is it really that easy to just decide to be a porn star and start getting paid?
Becoming one isn’t exactly easy, but I believe I have a decent chance. I’m a smaller build with an above average dick, fairly attractive, flexible, and have no gag reflex. I may not be able to get into the business, but I’m going to try.
You ever consider what your parents might think? or if you ever have children what they might think? “My dad sucks dick for a living.” Just doesn’t have a good ring to it, you know?
Why would I care what my parents think? They’re pieces of shit. And even if they weren’t, this isn’t their decision.
I also don’t plan on this being the only thing I do for the rest of my life. It’s not a permanent job for most people. If I do have kids, they’ll have to find out on their own that I did porn. It’s not like I’m bringing them to take your child to work day.
Have you guys watched gay porn before?
Yes, we’ve both watched gay porn, but not together.
Are you sure this isn’t just a way for you to fuck dudes? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Actually I left the choice ultimately up to her. I said that if at any time she is uncomfortable with it, I would quit. I’m not repulsed by the thought of having sex with guys, but I also have no problem with just sleeping with my wife for the rest of my life either. I did marry her, after all.
Dan Tracer
#BoycottDolceGabbana Grows As Gay Rights Supporters Picket Outside Flagship Store in London: VIDEO
#BoycottDolceGabbana Grows As Gay Rights Supporters Picket Outside Flagship Store in London: VIDEO
Gay rights supporters lined the walls outside Dolce & Gabbana’s flagship store in London on Thursday to protest the fashion designers’ comments about same-sex parenting and IVF babies, the London Evening Standard reports:
Campaigners from The Out and Proud Diamond Group held placards which said “D&G Homophobia is not fashionable!” in the protest next to the shop in Bond Street.
They were joined by leading gay rights activist Peter Tatchell as they called for shoppers to boycott D &G after the duo claimed children conceived through IVF were “synthetic”.
Other protest banners read “Dolce & Gabbana – put labels on clothes, not families” and “Boycott D&G over their disrespect for gay families”.
Watch footage of the demonstration, AFTER THE JUMP…
In related news earlier this week, the Huffington Post reported that international advertising agency DigitasLBi, which “counts Puma and eBay among its clients,” announced it would drop the “D” and “G” from its name for a week and call itslef “iitasLBi”.
Bill Maher and his panelists Christine Quinn, Mercedes Schlapp, and former Rep. Jack Kingston also addressed the D&G controversy on Real Time last night, which you can also check out AFTER THE JUMP.
Start at 8:10
Kyler Geoffroy