Philadelphia and Region

National

International

Marriage Equality

Other Equality Issues

Transgender

DOMA

Youth

Don't Ask Don't Tell / Military

Politics/Politicians

Business

Editorials / Opinion / Blogs / Letters / Columns

Celebrities / Personalities

Religion / Clergy

Sports

TV / Webcast

Publishers
Thom Cardwell
James Duggan

Editor
James Duggan

Editor-at-Large
Thom Cardwell

All Rights Reserved - BUCKmonkey, LLC 

Expressed opinions are that of the author(s) and do not represent the thoughts, feelings and /or opinions of any person, organization, company, staff member, or any of our advertisers.

Deep breathe everyone!   It's not as bad as some would want us to believe. The media is telling us that Election 2009 was a rebuke of the Democrats and some queer news outlets would rather point to the defeat of same-sex marriage in Maine then point out our numerous victories.

Voters in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Washington State yesterday upheld legislation that provides equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.   While many openly-gay candidates won their elections on Tuesday across the country. 

In Washington, voters rejected R-71 which called for the overturning of SB 5688, aka., "Everything but Marriage" Bill. It stated "marriage shall apply equally to state registered domestic partnerships," grantingcouples on the state's domestic-partnership registry all of the estimated 425 state rights of married couples.  The voters of Washington affirmed our basic rights. Now they've helped to level the playing field bringing us closer to full citizenship in that state.

In Kalamazoo, voters passed Ordinance 1856, updating their city's non-discrimination law to be inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity.  Queers in Kalamazoo are now legally protected from discrimination related to employment, housing and public accommodations.

Kalamazoo voters also elected out candidate Terry Kuseske to the Kalamazoo City Commission.  Kuseske is just one the 50 openly queers candidates that were voted into office. Charles Pugh of Detroit is another.

Pugh's election to the Detroit City Council makes him the first out elected official in Detroit's history. Voters so overwhelming supported of this openly gay man that he received the largest number of votes among all those elected to council making him the City Council President.

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Mark Kleinschmidt was elected its first openly gay mayor. In Maplewood, Minnesota, openly queer James Llanas won a seat on the city council despite, an apparent hate mail campaign against him reported by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

In St. Petesburg, Florida, out candidate for City Council, Steven Kornell, received 60% of the vote making him the city's first openly queer elected official.

In Houston, Texas, the nation's forth largest city, we find out City Controller Anisse Parker facing a run off on December 12 to possibly become that city's first openly queer Mayor.

Yes, we lost in Maine when it joined 30 other states as a majority of the votes rejected the civil rights of the queer minority but queer victories abound across the nation in spite of it.

We need to embrace this fact and celebrate it.  Then we need to get off our asses and fight even harder for that which is ours by birth as Americans.  Let our individual resolve be strengthened and be inspired by our victories till we achieve full citizenship, freedom and equality.

Queer director/producer Lee Daniels has a lot to smile about these days. The native Philadelphia African-American, who has catapulted into fame and celebrity status by being the producer of the Oscar-winning, "Monster's Ball" with Halle Berri, has been shunning Hollywood ever since, making the films that he wants to produce, and making them his way. His independent spirit and sheer determination has now once again won the acclaim of the critics and the attention of the public with his soon-to-be-released, "Precious," distributed by Lion's Gate nationwide.  There is already buzz of Oscar-contender that may have started at its premiere at Sundance 2009 and gathered momentum at Cannes 2009.  But he tells everyone that he doesn't want to be distracted or overwhelmed by the whirlwind of activity about awards, especially the Golden Statue. His "Precious" was recently profiled as the cover story for The New York Times Magazine (October 25, 2009).  "'Precious' is so not Obama," the always candid and straight-shooting Daniels told editor-at-large Lynn Hirshberg, "'Precious' is so not P. C. What I learned from doing the film is that even though I am black, I'm prejudiced. I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me. When I was young, I went to a church where the lighter-skinned you were, the closer you sat to the altar. Anybody who's heavy like Precious--I thought they were dirty and not very smart. Making this movie changed my heart. I'll never look at a fat girl walking down the street the same way again."

____________________________________

Lovable queer actor, Leslie Jordan, perhaps best known to the mainstream audience for his recurrent role as Beverly Leslie in "Will & Grace," has been busier than ever since the sitcom's ending. The 54-year-old, Emmy Award winning Jordan has been on the road for eight solid months promoting his autobiography, "My Trip Down The Pink Carpet," that he has made into a one-man show and, most recently, he appears in the sequel, third in the trilogy, of the ever-popular, gay feature film, "Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat" opposite Mink Stole, one of the members of the original acting ensemble from John Waters' Baltimore days when he was making  his famous cult movies with Divine. The always clever and funny Jordan talked to Tim Parks (RAGE Monthly, October 2009) about his career and his fabulously out-there queer life. "I know this is going to sound so conceited. I have never found a part to play that was more interesting than me in real life. I'm a good actor but I ain't no Meryl Streep or Robert De Niro. I'm never going to lose myself in a role. I just do little aspects of me when I act."

____________________________________

Governor of Maine John Baldacci has a lot on his mind these days as the citizens of his state decide whether or not to repeal the bill that he signed into law to legalize same-sex marriage last spring. At the time, Baldacci made Maine the fifth such state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage. He talked briefly about Question 1 as the referendum is known to Deborah Solomon (The New York Times Magazine, November 1, 2009) and, surprisingly how, he isn't looking at this action on a national issue. "We're not focused on it that way; we're focused on it Maine-specific, why we're going to be helpful to families in Maine who need to make sure that they have equal protection under the Constitution," said Baldacci. Raised in Bangor, as an Italian-American and a Catholic and a Democrat, the governor said that he isn't looking at Question 1 as a "gay rights" issue either. His argument is that if the voters reject Question 1, then Maine would become the first state in the nation where gay marriage was legalized by regular citizens, as opposed to a court order, a legislative vote, a governor's bill. Though Maine is about only 20% Roman Catholic, the church is the loudest opponent of same-sex marriage in the state. Despite these pressures, Baldacci stated that while "I respect the church and appreciate their leadership, but my responsibility is to all the people." (Editor's Note:  Of course, this week the opposing forces won out and another state has turned down the rights of queers to enjoy the privileges and benefits of marriage.)