Media: December 2009
The top 15 queer newsmakers of 2009
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 31, 2009 | 1:30 PM |I drew up a list of the top 15 LGBTQ people who kept on making the headlines, both here in LGBTQ media and in straight media. These are not the "15 greatest LGBT people of 2009," nor are they the...Read More
First Openly Gay Superhero to be Written and Drawn by Gay Comic Artist
Filed by Jason Tseng | December 30, 2009 | 11:30 AM |Northstar. For queer comic fans he is the longest running joke in Marvel. Since his groundbreaking coming out in 1992 (after a series of unfortunate events including a short stint as a fairy and adopting an AIDS baby who then...Read More
Ex-gay mom flees with child to avoid custody dispute
Filed by Bil Browning | December 29, 2009 | 7:30 PM |When will the drama with Lisa Miller ever end? At this point I just feel so sorry for her former partner, Janet Jenkins... Jenkins and Miller have been involved in a custody dispute that's spanned two states after Miller went...Read More
The other founding fathers
Filed by Phil Reese | December 29, 2009 | 6:30 PM |Back in the days when I wrote for the now defunct Queer Magazine, my first cover story was called "Founding Fathers," where I researched the gay founding fathers: Alexander Hamilton, Pierre L'Enfant, and Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus von Steuben among...Read More
Either this is the best joke ever, or we've got ourselves a nut!
Filed by Phil Reese | December 28, 2009 | 5:00 PM |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...Read More
The right's gAyTM
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 28, 2009 | 11:00 AM |GOProud, a right-wing Republican gay and lesbian org, announced that it wanted to cosponsor the CPAC (big annual conservative convention known for its homophobia) along with other assorted rightwing orgs, and that promptly received calls for boycott from culture war...Read More
Democracy When? For Whom?
Filed by Guest Blogger | December 27, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger April Rose, a Two-Spirits author, speaker and raconteur on all things trans, lives in New Mexico where she is currently developing a website that will implement her desire to educate people about living with integrity and...Read More
Just say no to the Salvation Army's red bucket
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 23, 2009 | 3:00 PM |It's that time of year again. Actually, it probably started a while ago for those of you in the US, but it's good to remember each year why lots of LGBT folks don't donate to the Red Bucket. From Lisa...Read More
Katy Perry offends LGBT people in a bout of twitterrhea
Filed by Jerame Davis | December 22, 2009 | 9:30 AM |Singer Katy Perry, who is no stranger to controversy with both the religious right and the LGBT community, is at it again. Now, instead of crooning about promiscuous lesbian fantasies or insulting an ex-boyfriend by insinuating he's gay, she seems...Read More
Canadian Christmas Card
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 21, 2009 | 6:00 PM |This member of Parliament, who's openly gay, caused quite a stir with his Christmas card. It's kinda Brokeback, but I can't think of a more tasteful way to do it. Go him. Update: Scott Brison responds:...Read More
First gay couple in Martha Stewart Weddings
Filed by Bil Browning | December 21, 2009 | 12:00 PM |Good As You blogger Jeremy Hooper and his partner, Andrew Shulman, have become the first gay couple featured in Martha Stewart Weddings. The magazine is on sale now. The happy couple were married in Connecticut earlier this year. Congratulations to...Read More
Situational Membership and Stigma
Filed by Antonia D'orsay | December 20, 2009 | 1:00 PM |This is a continuation of the following pieces: What is Trans* What is Sex Expression, Role, and Identity: Gender I took a break to give everyone time to digest those pieces and to be ready for the ones coming up....Read More
The Right's Bogus War on Christmas
Filed by Rev Irene Monroe | December 20, 2009 | 11:30 AM |What's in a greeting? With Ramadan, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice and Christmas all going on this time of year, one would think that an all-inclusive seasonal greeting emblematic of our nation's religious diversity would be embraced by us all with...Read More
Trenchant as hell
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 19, 2009 | 12:00 PM |Now this is a movement I can get behind. Something tells me Rupaul would have had a better answer when Charlie Gibson asked about the Bush Doctrine. (via)...Read More
Bad CBS analysis of same-sex marriage, written by the "marriage-focused"
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 17, 2009 | 2:00 PM |I came across an "analysis" piece on CBS this morning that was particularly uninsightful. I'm actually surprised it got the forum that it got. It's focused on a topic that I've been following closely for years - the fight for...Read More
Jillian Weiss on Michelangelo Signorile Today at 4:30
Filed by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss | December 17, 2009 | 12:00 PM |UPDATE: The recorded interview of about 20 minutes is attached at the end of the post below. I have been asked to come on OutQ's Michelangelo Signorile radio show on Sirius XM today. The topic will be transphobia in the...Read More
GOProud vs. AFTAH: The straight right responds to the gay right
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 16, 2009 | 3:00 PM |GOProud, the wingnutty cousin to the Goldwater conservatives at Log Cabin, announced last week that they'd be co-sponsoring the CPAC (big, annual conservative conference famous for homophobia). A few people pointed out that they'd be cosponsoring with folks like NOM...Read More
Looking Back: Rare Video of Matthew Shepard
Filed by Guest Blogger | December 15, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Josh Cohen is a consultant providing need-based, low-cost internet media services for equality campaigns and organizations. During the day, he works for a software company in Redmond, WA. As a member of the Board of Directors...Read More
3 Lessons to Take Away from Ron Goldgate
Filed by Bruce Parker | December 14, 2009 | 2:00 PM |Being a contributor to The Bilerico Project is important to me for lots of different reasons. The primary one is that I passionately believe in what Bil, Jerame, and Alex started out trying to do here. I believe that they...Read More
Free speech needs your help
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 14, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Last week Glenn Greenwald posted on the ACLU's budget problems. Their largest donor, who normally gives $20 million a year, just can't keep on giving due to his financial situation. The financial crisis has hit them like it has every...Read More
Don't Avoid The Anger
Filed by Antonia D'orsay | December 14, 2009 | 11:00 AM |What some people might not know, since TBP has grown over the last while, and always has not merely new readers, but people who have never considered this before, and people who are newly out every day, trying to find...Read More
The Delusion of Transphobic Labeling
Filed by Keri Renault | December 13, 2009 | 1:00 PM |There may have been a place of respect for Ron Gold in the LBGTQ community once upon a time long ago, but that place is now far, far away. Mr. Gold's days as a gay leader are done, long gone...Read More
Ron Gold's Post Is Down: What Now?
Filed by Rebecca Juro | December 12, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Around 9pm Friday night, Ronald Gold's first and only post as a Bilerico contributor has been removed from the site and his contributor status has been withdrawn. Gold's post had amassed over 300 comments, virtually all of them negative. In...Read More
What Is Trans*?
Filed by Antonia D'orsay | December 11, 2009 | 3:00 PM |The title here is chosen for a reason. It is not "What is Transgender?". It is not "what is Transsexual". It is not "who is Trans?", although that will be talked about. What is Trans*? The first thing I am...Read More
The Greg Grunberg Story: An Update
Filed by Rebecca Juro | December 10, 2009 | 7:30 PM |Once my response to Greg Grunberg's email about my post regarding his tweets about Chaz Bono that many transpeople and allies found to be transphobic hit The Bilerico Project, things started happening pretty quickly. Bil got in touch with Rich...Read More
Recording Academy blows GLAAD off, calls Buju Banton's gay-murder lyrics his "cultural perspective."
Filed by Phil Reese | December 10, 2009 | 5:30 PM |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...Read More
If we can predict the future, then why didn't we see the Prop 8 loss coming?
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 10, 2009 | 12:00 PM |I'm really not getting why everyone in the LGBTQ blogosphere is laughing at Maggie Gallagher's "Eight Reasons Why Gay Marriage Is Not Inevitable." I know it's fun to mock someone like her because she's officially against us, but, seriously, she...Read More
Here's your liberal media for you
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 09, 2009 | 4:30 PM |Here's an interesting story. Larry Grard, a journalist for the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, Maine, lost his job because, the day after Question 1 (same-sex marriage ban) passed in Maine, he sent this email to HRC: Who are the hateful,...Read More
Rachel Maddow slays ex-gay Richard Cohen
Filed by Bil Browning | December 09, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Did you see Rachel Maddow rip ex-gay Richard Cohen to pieces last night? If not, it's a beautiful thing to behold. Cohen's book is being used as justification for Uganda's proposed "Kill Gay People" legislation, but he tries to do...Read More
War Distraction 101: Call Tiger
Filed by Sara Whitman | December 09, 2009 | 9:30 AM |How do you divert attention from an endless war in Afghanistan? Call Tiger Woods. It seems we are all too busy counting mistresses than troops being sent overseas. Less than a week, and our attention is diverted. Um, hello? People?...Read More
Greg Grunberg Responds...and So Do I
Filed by Rebecca Juro | December 08, 2009 | 7:30 PM |Early yesterday afternoon, I received a email through the Bilerico Project from "Heroes" star Greg Grunberg about my recent post about his tweeting about Chaz Bono. It read: My comments about Chaz Bono letting himself go had NOTHING to do...Read More
Woman Auctions Her Right to Marry in NY
Filed by Michelle Marzullo | December 08, 2009 | 6:30 PM |In response to the recent denial of same-sex marriage to LGBT people in New York, Jamie Frevele is auctioning off her right to marry as a heterosexual woman on EBay. What do you think about this? Here's her reasoning:...Read More
It's about money, not religious discrimination
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 08, 2009 | 12:30 PM |The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of the Christian Legal Society and the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. The case is about a rightwing Christian student group that applied to be recognized by the...Read More
Lambda Rising bookstore closing after Christmas
Filed by Nancy Polikoff | December 06, 2009 | 6:00 PM |Washington DC's gay bookstore, Lambda Rising, is closing after 35 years. In announcing the closing, founder and co-owner Deacon Maccubin has self-consciously declared "mission accomplished." The store's Rehoboth Beach, DE location will also close. The website announcement includes a touching...Read More
"Heroes" Star Greg Grunberg Tweets Transphobia
Filed by Rebecca Juro | December 06, 2009 | 4:30 PM |UPDATE: Greg Grunberg e-mailed a response to this post. Read the message and Becky's response in this post. Since I started using Twitter several months ago, I've built up quite the list of personal friends and aquantances as well as...Read More
On Getting Found, Or, Search Engines: Is There A Difference?
Filed by Don Davis | December 06, 2009 | 11:30 AM |I have a story today that comes from my predilection to "self-syndicate," meaning that I post my stories far and wide, in the same way a newspaper columnist is syndicated nationally--or beyond. After I post, I know others will also...Read More
Miss Manners responds to letter about a family with two dads
Filed by Alex Blaze | December 04, 2009 | 11:30 AM |Here's part of a letter in Miss Manners' column this past Wednesday: Dear Miss Manners: My partner and I adopted a child three years ago. He has become a happy, silly, active, loving child. When we were going through the...Read More
1920s Paris: naughty demoiselles
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | December 03, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Sweet and sexy hug in this vintage postcard from the Biederer studios, Paris 1920s....Read More
Dragon Age: Origins - Humans Top and Elves Bottom
Filed by Jason Tseng | December 02, 2009 | 4:00 PM |So, I won't deny that a large part of Dragon Age: Origins' squee factor for me was the possibility of getting it on with hot elf assassin, Zevran. What can I say? I always had a thing for Legolas. (I'm...Read More
Meredith Baxter Comes Out: Family Ties, Family Lies?
Filed by Keri Renault | December 02, 2009 | 10:46 AM |I almost choked on my cornflakes this morning. Milk dribbled down my chin as I smiled. America's favorite 1980's sitcom mom, Meredith Baxter of "Family Ties" came out gay during a surprise Today Show interview with Matt Lauer. Visit msnbc.com...Read More
GLAAD responds to Cleveland Show criticism
Filed by Bil Browning | December 01, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Sunday I posted about a blatantly transphobic and homophobic episode of Family Guy spinoff, The Cleveland Show. I criticized GLAAD for immediately denouncing an episode of South Park that used the word "faggot" repeatedly to illustrate how stupid the word...Read More
What We're Missing on this World AIDS Day
Filed by Ben Finzel | December 01, 2009 | 10:02 AM |Today is World AIDS Day, but you might not realize that given the nearly constant coverage of Tiger Woods, the Salahi's and the latest news about Sarah Palin's book tour. Yes, there are stories to be told that affect literally...Read More