Monthly Archives: May 2015
Gay Friendly Summer Vacation: Pensacola, Florida
Gay Friendly Summer Vacation: Pensacola, Florida
Looking for that perfect beach vacation but you want to be yourself? It’s not that difficult once you have been to Pensacola, Florida. The water is warm, the people are nice, and there is just enough to do that even on a rainy day; you feel like you got away. I have been going to Pensacola for family reasons my entire life, but as an adult I appreciate that there is an added bonus: It is drop-dead gorgeous and affordable. As an unofficial Ambassador or Prince of Pensacola, I only have great things to say about my hometown. This Gulf Coast destination has a lot going on and you can jump into the local growth vibe or kick back on the pristine beaches for a break from the regular.
The beaches are often rated the best in the country. There are bays with bluffs supported by scruffy oak trees that are perfect for hiking on an overcast day for a waterside picnic. Not far from downtown are river beaches, fed by coldwater springs, where you can feel safe wading in the water without the threat of alligators. The famous sugar white sand beaches are located on a sandbar of a barrier island that was formed by the eroding limestone sediment from the base of the Appalachia. The sand squeaks when you walk on it and reflects the sun with such strong rays that an umbrella is not enough. Do not forget to stop at Tom Thumb to pick up your sunscreen and apply liberally… Don’t worry, you will still get a tan line.
Maybe a bronzing is lower on your list of priorities because you have children. They might be impressed by the National Naval Aviation Museum or floored by the roar of the Blue Angel’s practice, which happens twice a week if the pilots are not on tour. Explore the forts and trails at Ft. Pickens National Seashore for at least a day. There you can wander comfortably out of sight but at every turn there is a view out of an Audubon Magazine or possibly an Andrew Wyeth painting. If you have pets in tow, make sure to stop by the dog beach, it is located on the western side of the island entry and there is a cross in the dunes that may or may not belong to a revered hound that I once knew. The Pensacola Beach restaurants Flounder’s and Peg Leg Pete’s have sandy playgrounds that are those rare places where someone might say “Will you watch my kid while I go to the bathroom?” This is old school South where people look out for each other and welcome visitors with the same hospitality. Most of the time there is live music so leave any ego behind and dance in public with your family while having a sunset dinner. Let your guard down and relax; it is your vacation and you work hard for these times.
If you do not have kids but found that person in your life that is different from anyone else there are so many opportunities for romance. There are restaurants such as The Grand Marlin or Fish House that offer outside seating for a slow dining experience. You can go to the Wine Bar on Palafox for a few glasses before wandering the historic downtown streets. Most likely you want to pick up some fresh seafood at Joe Patti’s and cook dinner in your rental while still maintaining close contact with the water. Maybe a proposal or even a wedding is on your schedule; then reach out to local Darrin Land for some advice on where, when and how. It is not hard to find advice in Pensacola and everybody knows each other so just ask around.
For all the singles out there (put your hands up!) there are multiple bars with different moods to keep you from feeling alone. Head over to The Cabaret for a more subdued crowd (think karaoke and local artists) or The Round Up for pool tables, darts, and good old Southern boys. If you have not seen a show at Emerald City then you have not seen the creative side of what a Panhandle bar can do on a budget. There is a gay beach but I have not been in so many years that I suggest you ask someone at the above mentioned establishments. It is easy enough to find; look for the rainbow umbrellas and or HRC bumper stickers in the parking lots. Pensacola is a multicultural, multi denominational, multi age city in the South and as much as you are free to be you, respect for other’s presence goes a long way. There may be the occasional grouchy old jerk but that should not stop you from having a good time or making friends.
Now, where to stay? Stay on the island if you can and depending on your needs you have many options. I like to stay at Tristan Towers because it is far away enough from the epicenter to feel like a retreat but has so many amenities that you can look past the ’80s decor. Check out Pensacola Beach Properties for what is available but if at all possible get a west facing unit so you can stare off to the point during sunset. If you need a little more glamour and comfort then head towards Portofino. They have resort amenities and a crispness that can make you feel a bit pampered. No place is the wrong choice because whether you are by the highway, downtown or on the beach; everything is close.
Pensacola is a beach destination that has grown in popularity among those from the surrounding areas, but it still has a small town charm that will have you checking out property in the area before you leave. If you have an entire week at your disposal you might try flying through New Orleans; the money you save will pay for your rental car or hotel but do not stop in Biloxi unless you have some money to lose. Who needs Tulum, Mexico when we have Pensacola, Florida right here?
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Top Journalist Comes Out One Week Before Ireland's Marriage Vote
Top Journalist Comes Out One Week Before Ireland's Marriage Vote
With seven days remaining before the big marriage refendum in Ireland, Ursula Halligan has come out in a public yet personal way.
Thom Senzee
Homosexuality Was Probably “A Factor” In Deadly Amtrak Crash, Antigay Pundit Says
Homosexuality Was Probably “A Factor” In Deadly Amtrak Crash, Antigay Pundit Says
Get ready to read the most stupid thing you’ll hear all day…
On her radio program earlier this week, Sandy Rios, governmental affairs director for the American Family Association, talked about the deadly Amtrak crash that killed eight people and sent 200 more to the hospital in Philadelphia earlier this week.
While running her mouth, Rios (pictured) mentioned that the engineer of the train was gay, then suggested this was likely “a factor” in the crash.
“I’m not inferring that this accident happened because he was gay,” Rios said, “but I do think it’s an interesting part of the story and you can bet it would be edited out.”
(Ms. Rios, if you’re reading, perhaps it was “edited out” because… it’s doesn’t matter!)
Rios continued by suggesting that the engineer may have been “going through some confusion that has to do with the very core of who they are.” She then launched into the story of an airline pilot who she says “put his entire plane at risk because he had an emotional, angry outburst to something that happened” in regards to hormone therapy he was receiving.
“I don’t know,” she concluded, “but I think it is something to be discussed and I think it’s a factor and I doubt you will hear it anywhere else.”
h/t: Right Wing Watch
Graham Gremore
College Wrestler Michael Johnson Sentenced to 60 Years in Prison in Controversial HIV Case
College Wrestler Michael Johnson Sentenced to 60 Years in Prison in Controversial HIV Case
Michael Johnson, once a college wrestler at Lindenwood, University in Missouri, was expelled from his school and arrested in 2013 after a one-time sex partner reported to the police that Johnson had infected him with HIV. Johnson had recently informed the man of his newfound HIV status, but according to the man, he believed that Johnson knew of his status while they were sexually active. In the two years since Johnson was first arrested, five other men have come forward with similar allegations, one of whom is also now HIV positive. In their investigation, authorities found video recordings that Johnson had made of himself having sex with multiple men, evidence which the state used against him in its criminal suit.
Johnson’s court trial came to a swift close earlier this week where a jury found him guilty of two Class A felonies for infecting two men and four Class B felonies for exposing other men to the virus. Ultimately the trail boiled down to two opposing narratives. All throughout his trial Johnson insisted that he’d disclosed his status to each of his partners once he knew he’d become positive himself. Each of his accusers claimed that they had no idea that Johnson was poz.
Writing for Buzzfeed, Steven Thrasher describes the state’s case against Johnson as one shot through with dated, unreliable science from an era in which we did not fully understand HIV as well as high-strung emotions. During his days as a competitive athlete Johnson often used the stage name “Tiger Mandingo,” an identity that he would often use on the hookup apps that he used to meet men.
Today the jury handed down its final sentence–a total of 60 years in prison, that Johnson’s legal time is challenging for him to be able to serve concurrently, which would cut his sentence down to 30 years.
Wrote AIDS activist Peter Staley on Facebook:
Missouri, and Johnson’s sex partners, may well feel they got some sort of justice today, but at what cost? This verdict and sentence will make it much harder to slow the spread of HIV. Others will become infected because of today’s “justice.” This sentence practically screams “don’t get tested” to every citizen in the state, especially young black men.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Rep. Jackie Speier Demands FTC Investigate ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapists
Rep. Jackie Speier Demands FTC Investigate ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapists
The congresswoman calls on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate mental health providers’ claims that they can change sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
Dawn Ennis
When Police Are Outside Agitators
When Police Are Outside Agitators
Public safety officers should protect, not control.
During a talk radio interview last month, a caller identifying himself as a police officer strongly disputed my claim that police are supposed to “Protect and Serve,” a motto stenciled on many police cruisers. “Our job is to enforce the law,” he insisted. This in a nutshell is the problem at the heart of so many police departments: a clash of missions.
Those of us privileged enough not to be routinely treated as criminal suspects can have a hard time understanding the perspective of communities of color. Black friends for years have told me of police who act like occupiers, stopping and questioning them on the slightest pretext.
Sometimes abusive police are white and sometimes black, but the relevant color is in the “thin blue line” police unite behind. The filing of murder and assault charges against six Baltimore officers by Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby in the death of Freddie Gray exposed a fault line that their prosecution by itself cannot repair. The police union denounced Mosby for a “rush to judgment,” oblivious to the fatal lack of due process afforded Mr. Gray.
The killing of Gray, apparently by a “rough ride” in a police van, is the latest in a long string of extra-judicial executions of African Americans, including Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, and Walter Scott. Many white people are sick of hearing it, but we cannot get at the problem without understanding its racist origins. Here is a bit of history seldom taught in civics class: American law enforcement may be traced to slave patrols. Victor E. Kappeler, Ph.D., claims, “Slave patrols and Night Watches, which later became modern police departments, were both designed to control the behaviors of minorities.”
This is not a liberal or conservative problem, but an American problem. The racially disparate War on Drugs, mortgage redlining, predatory banks, poor education and job training, mass incarceration — these contributors to urban neglect have bipartisan origins. When long-simmering despair inevitably explodes, the marginalized deserve more than a lecture not given to anarchist rancher Cliven Bundy. They need a stake in the greater good and a credible prospect that persons misusing authority will be held accountable.
When D.C.’s Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (of which I am president) worked with others including the NAACP and ACLU sixteen years ago to create the D.C. Office of Police Complaints, we did not get all the reforms we wanted, but we won a measure of independent review of charges of police wrongdoing. Civilian oversight is crucial to responsive policing.
Those who resist police accountability are not relenting. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, for example, wants to exempt police body cam footage from Freedom of Information Act requests. Max Blumenthal of AlterNet claims that many Baltimore police officers are from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and sometimes say before their shifts, “Time to go back to work in the zoo.” Who are the outside agitators?
The media are a big part of the problem. Last week, The Washington Post ran with a police leak claiming that Gray had injured himself, a howler that skeptics soon unraveled. Right-wing outlets from FOX to Breitbart ran their usual wildly politicized and distorted stories.
As an unevenly applied curfew ended May 3, it was evident that Baltimore police were misled by poor intelligence. On April 27, they inflamed a tense situation by shutting down public transportation near Mondawmin Mall and blockading streets, trapping students from Frederick Douglass High School. Meanwhile, the gangs they were worried about were cooperating to protect youth and prevent violence.
Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) bizarrely blamed the Baltimore unrest on same-sex marriages, claiming they cause family breakdown. That aside, LGBT folk are part of every urban community. Flashpoints from our own past (the Stonewall uprising in 1969, the White Night riots in San Francisco in 1979) should give us pause before scorning others who respond violently to “a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations” (to quote the Declaration of Independence).
Police must change their perspective from enforcing to protecting. They must know and respect the communities they serve. They must not be above the law. Change will occur only if we push for it together. Let’s be about it.
This piece originally appeared in the Washington Blade and Bay Windows.
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European Union Leader Marries Same-Sex Partner; Makes History
'Game of Thrones' Star Kit Harington Knows You Sexualize Him and He's Still Not Okay With It
'Game of Thrones' Star Kit Harington Knows You Sexualize Him and He's Still Not Okay With It
Though Kit Harington recognizes the homoeroticism running through the veins of the men of the Night’s Watch, the Game of Thrones actor still insists that he’s uncomfortable with being thought of as a sex symbol. Earlier this year Harington went public with the fact that he felt as if it was “demeaning” that people paid so much attention to his body, while not necessarily respecting his talent as an actor. The public, while somewhat sympathetic to his discomfort, swiftly turned the actor’s feelings into something of a mild internet joke.
“I found it unfair, really, some of the stuff I read,” he explained, doubling down on his assertion that the attention was problematic. “I was making a point, which was that I think young men do get objectified, do get sexualized unnecessarily.”
“As a person who is definitely in that category, as a young leading man in this world, I feel I have a unique voice to talk about that. I was making a point to sort of say, ‘It just needs to be highlighted.’ With every photo shoot I ever go to, I’m told to take off my shirt, and I don’t.”
(h/t Out)
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Greg Louganis:<em>Back on Board</em> and on the Red Carpet
Greg Louganis:<em>Back on Board</em> and on the Red Carpet
An official Back on Board publicity image
Back on Board: Greg Louganis is an intimate portrait of the public triumphs and private struggles of trailblazing openly gay athlete Greg Louganis. In this episode, I am honored to present my coverage of Greg at the 2015 Palm Springs International Film Festival, and to present an encore presentation of a previous red carpet interview with the Olympian.
Check Out Movies Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with NicholasSnowLive on BlogTalkRadio
Listen to this episode on the BlogTalkRadio Network.
A refreshingly candid documentary film about this four-time Olympic champion, “Back on Board” follows Greg Louganis over the past three years as he struggles with financial security and reunites with the sport he once dominated but not welcomed in. The threat of losing his house during the recent financial crisis forces Louganis to re-evaluate the choices, relationships, and missed opportunities of his career.
Listen to this episode to learn on which famous dating website Greg met his now-husband Johnny Chaillot-Louganis, as photographed above by Nicholas Snow at the 2015 Palm Springs International Film Festival.
With unprecedented access, the film reveals the complicated life of an athlete whose grace, beauty, and courage sparked a worldwide fascination with diving. It chronicles Louganis’ rise from a difficult upbringing to nearly universal acclaim as the greatest diver ever, and from pioneering openly gay athlete with HIV to an overlooked sports icon. “Back on Board” is the engrossing story of an American legend as he re-emerges on the world stage to combat prejudice, promote tolerance, and return to the diving world after a long period of absence to act as a mentor to the next generation.
Enjoy this Q&A from DOC NYC:
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