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queerVOICE
More Queers Murdered - Action Needed
James Duggan
copyright 2009
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Last Friday, in the
southern Puerto Rican town of Cayey,
the body of out 19 year-old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was discovered burnt,
decapitated, and dismembered of arms and legs in an apparent anti-queer
murder. Queer advocacy groups across the
nation have called for a federal investigation under the newly enacted Matthew
Sheppard Amendment to the federal hate crimes act. The FBI is currently
investigating the case.
The FBI involvement is a relief to many as local police were forced to remove
investigator Ángel Rodriguez Colon after he made unthinkable,homophobicremarks to
television media. Colon
said, "People who lead this type of
lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen."
The Associated Press is reporting that there have been at least 10 slayings on the island over the last
seven years that should have been investigated under that U.S. territories' 2002 hate crimes
law. According to Pedro
Julio Serrano, a spokesperson for the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, this law has never been applied to
cases involving sexual orientation or gender identity despite calls to use it
more aggressively.
Twenty-six year-old Juan Martinez Matos has been charged with first-degree
murder and has allegedly confessed to killing Mercado and the mutilation of his
body. U. S.
authorities are still considering whether to make this a hate crime case.
If so, it will be the first test of our newest federal protections. It will be
a testament to just how serious our federal government will be in prosecuting
bias crimes against queers.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs in 2008 said that there were a
total of 29 anti-queer murders in the United States, the "highest number
of deaths since 1999, and an increase of 28% from 2007." The total 2008 number
of anti-queer violence victims that reported to them was 2,424. Actual
numbers are higher.
Last week another queer teen was murdered. In Baltimore, out 15 year old
Jason Mattison was raped, gagged with a pillowcase, stabbed repeatedly in the
head and throat, and shoved into a closet allegedly by a family friend who was
released early on a technicality from prison where he was serving a 30 year
sentence for murder.
Nor can we forget 15 year old Lawrence King, the Oxnard, Californian, eighth
grader who identified as queer and wore makeup and nail polish; he was killed
by a 14 year old classmate who was charged with first-degree murder and with a
hate crime in that state.
Or Navy Seaman August Provost was found shot to death and his body burned at
his guard post on Camp Pendleton in California.
His killer admitted to the murder a week later. The military has not
ruled this murder a hate crime.
Mercado, Mattison, King, Provost and scores more murdered just for being
queer. When will this slaughters end?
Federal hate crimes protections will help, if they are enforced, but we still
need to work on many states to pass the same protections. For those who have
been killed and for those who will be--our martyrs--we need to take action to
secure hate crime protections for all queers in all 50 states.
If you live in a state
where hate crime protections doesnot exist for queers,
than you must contact your elected officials and demand immediate
inclusion. If you are going on vacation
then take the time to know which states
are inclusive and which are not, take a stand and not visit a state that does
not provide hate crime protection to us, than let that state's tourist board
know why you will not vacation there.
Only
we can make the difference. Action is needed. Vigils are good and
noble but what is needed is a direct lobbying effort by a greater number of
people. Let us mourn our dead and strive to protect the living. Do not
let the deaths of the victims of anti-queer bias pass in vain. Take
Action. Make a difference today. |
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What It Looks Like From Here
Thom Cardwell
copyright 2009 |
Queer Books? Do they have much of a future?
 We know that queer bookstores have almost made the
list of "extinct species"! No more Different Light Bookstores, even more
shockingly, no more Oscar Wilde Bookshop
in Greenwich Village. I grew up on that literary
institution when I was in graduate school.
Back then at conservative Fordham
University, the good queer 22-year-old Philadelphian (me) made his way
to Oscar Wilde to discover the "gay voices" of the period and to gather "our
gay literary history" as, back in the mid-1960s, they weren't discussing the
sexual orientations of the giants of literature and art in the classroom at a Catholic
University or, really, any other educational institution of higher learning
either. (Nowadays, there are queer theory classes at once-considered
conservative schools like Duke University
in North Carolina.)
Having a personal library has always been a luxury in my life in all my
residences, wherever I've lived, even now
I still can point to the many volumes of novels, plays, poetry, art,
photography, history and works of world literature that I purchased at Oscar Wilde.
That's because my visits to the bookstore were
always an experience, serving also as an information center and a makeshift
community center. It really became an integral part of my gay education away
from the classroom, far from the campus. It definitely enhanced my life as an
urban gay young man in the largest and greatest city in the world!
But wait, another great city, Philadelphia, the
city of firsts, and one that also preserves and genuinely appreciates the
old, traditional and historic, still has Giovanni's
Room, now rightly proclaimed "the oldest
gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer bookstore in America."
It's still in operation and there are many groups
and individuals who are trying to make sure that the last of an era, Giovanni's
Room, doesn't have to make the "extinct species" and end up being only some
reference in the next generation's queer history books, if anyone will be
writing them. The sense of welcoming,
safe, inciting and comfortable space that I felt back at Oscar Wilde days
in New York City,
I have always felt whenever I've been to Giovanni's Room. And, yes, over the years, I've acquired many
art, photography and sale books (I've always loved finding treasures in their
remainder bins).
 Since the store is now faced with a financial
challenge as the front wall of their historic structure is being replaced at a
difficult economic time and a depressed independent retail market. The queer community of Philadelphia, rather than lose their
cherished bookstore, is organizing fund-raising events to ensure the store's survival.
There is, happily, an organization that does care,
promote, support and protect the existence of queer books and the queer voices
who we already have and those who are emerging and will emerge in the future,
that organization, now-based in Los Angeles, is the Lambda
Literary Foundation (LLF). LLF is dedicated to raising the status of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual
people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among queer writers
who use their work to explore queer lives. The Foundation sponsors the annual
Lambda Book Awards and an annual writer's workshop, now entering its third
year.
The LLF in effort to assist in saving Giovanni's
Room is presenting a "Read-a-Thon Fundraiser," in
association with TLA Video, to be
held at Giovanni's Room, 12th and Pine Streets, Philadelphia, 7:30 - 10 p.m.,
November 21.
The event will feature more than 20 queer authors, many of the who's who of the queer
word, signing and reading excerpts from
their works, including Steve
Berman, S. Renee Bess, Perry Brass,
Tim Brough, Victoria Brownworth, Rob Byrnes, David Carter, Mark Hardy, Ken Harvey, Bill Konigsberg, Livia Lllewellyn, Malinda Lo, Bobbi
Marolt, Mark Merlis, Thom Nickles,
Radclyffe, Paul Russell, Scott
Sherman and Bob Smith.
 "For those who love reading, the art of words and
books, this will be an evening to
remember." said Scott Cranin,
LLF board member and event organizer.
Benefit tickets are suggested
donation at $25 per person (or give what you can), and available in advance at TLA locations at 15th and Locust Sts.,
Bryn Mawr and Chestnut Hill, at Giovanni's
Room and at the door.
Cranin said that 100% of the proceeds from tickets
sales will be donated to the two sponsors, LLF and Giovanni's Room. Wine and
snacks will also be served throughout the evening.
Well, I hope that you'll come out and support the
cause, and maybe buy a queer book of your taste and liking, and save the last
of an era!
For information call Scott
Cranin, 267.765.9840; or visit giovannisroom.com
comments@QUEERtimes.net
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Thom's Table on the Qt!
Thom Cardwell
copyright 2009
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 Don't you truly adore going out to a queer Sunday
brunch with friends and otherwise. I do. Nowadays there's definitely a new
hotspot, "Q" Restaurant,
1234 Locust Street, Philadelphia,
(formerly the location for Bump) to gather after an "active" Saturday night on
the town in Philadelphia's gayborhood.
Here's a quality meal deal for you all with a
special brunch menu, at $9.95 for food only, served every Sunday, from 11 a.m.
to 4 p.m., that offers an attractive variety of items, from "table sides" such sweet potato fries with butter scotch
carmel at $6, it's definitely almost like eating dessert first. Honestly,
my out-of-town guests, one a queer film director from Los
Angeles and the other a queer film producer from New York City, couldn't get enough of these!
In fact, when the waiter asked us if we wanted to place another order, we all
looked at each other and almost did. We were tempted. But we knew that other
delectable items were on the way.
Also from the $9.95 offerings, there's a number of eggs and omelets to chose from such as
eggs benny, turkey benny, the 12th Street omelet (with choice of three fillings
with your usual suspects), the Chesapeake Bay omelet (with sauteed bell
peppers, red onions and crab meat), and the Omega 3 salmon benny or if you want
to do it yourself, you can order "You're
Style Eggs."
Other
breakfast foods include: chocolate French toast, Belgian waffle, crepes du jour, curry
chicken and dumplings (I'm curious about this item so I'll definitely have to
order during my next visit) and pasta d'jour, they leave it up to the chef's
choice of fresh pasta dish for each Sunday brunch.
The more lunch side of the brunch
selection, there are sandwiches such as the Greek burger, Sicilian pulled
pork, Santa Fe crab cake sandwich, and, all modestly aside, the "Soon to be Famous Turkey BLT" (another must-try
selection at a future visit). There's also the Go Greens, grilled Caesar, baby
spinach salad, the Omega 3 frilled salmon Caesar (it looks so deliciously
healthy) and a simple house salad.
The happy hour cocktails, 5 to 7 p.m, every day,
are lots of fun concoctions from the bar's mixologists, and the prices are
reasonable, the luxe at $6 per drink have names like Vendetta, Madame Q, Asian
Kiss, Blueberri Cosmo, Q-cumber and French 77, and the martinis at $5 include
Jade, Chinawhite, Pink slip, Chico's, Mexican Punch and Neapolitan. House red
and white wines are $5 per glass and Miller Lite and Yuengling Lager are only $3.
Enjoy the libations and the queer camaraderie of Q!
For more information, call 215.732.1800; or visit
www.qphilly.com
 If steak and wine, paired in a special way is your thing, then you might want
to dine at Morton's The Steakhouse,
1411 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,
December 8, beginning at 6 p.m., when the restaurant will offer a prix fixe
dinner at $99 per person, including tax and gratuity.
This special evening will also present George
Staikos, from Ramey Wine Cellars of
California, who will present three elegant wines made from traditional,
artisan wine making techniques and ripe fruit from the best of Napa Valley
and Sonoma County.
"We are delighted to offer this dinner to our
guests. The combination of learning about wines and our food as well as having
a representative talk about the different wine making techniques is both a
fantastic and unique experience," says Steve
McGrath of Morton's. "This dining experience is sure to surprise and
delight the palate."
McGrath said some of the highlights of the
evening's menu will include the savory Filet Diane with demi glace mustard
sauce, a fresh Sea Bass with mango salsa and a comforting baked onion Gruyere. For more information,
call 215.557.0724; or visit mortons.com
 In South Jersey, diners are currently enjoying the
fall prix fixe menu at Fleming's Prime Steak House and Wine Bar,
500 Route 73 North, Marlton, NJ,
for selective three-course dinner for $39.95 per person, excluding cocktails
and other beverages, tax and gratuity.
Chef partner Aaron Fleisch has created a pleasantly
tempting seasonal menu with choice of appetizer, a roasted butternut squash
soup with gingered creme fraiche or Fleming's chopped salad with bacon, olives,
asparagus, blue cheese and vinaigrette.
Fleisch offers dines the choice of one entree
including file mignon brochette,
with shallots, mushrooms and sweet peppers with Madeira sauce, with a suggested
wine from their wine selections of Fleming's award-winning 100 vintages to
imbibe, Pretty Sally, Cabernet Shiraz, Victoria Australia, 2004/2005; crackling pork Osso Bucco, a slow
cooked pork shank served crispy with barbecue glaze and cilantro oil, paired by
suggestion, with Tenimenti Angelini, Toscana Tuttobene Red, Italy, 2006; or chicken Alsace, topped with prosciutto
and brie, white wine and apple beurre blanc, paired with Sonoma-Cutrer,
Chardonnay, Russian River Raches, 2007. The side dishes are baked tomatoes with
parmesan stuffing or creamed corn.
For dessert, it's a dark chocolate mousse cake,
with almond brittle and melted creme anglaise, with a suggested wine, Croft,
Tawny Port 10 years old, Portugal, NV.
For more information, call 856.988.1351; or visit
flemingssteakhouse.com
comments@QUEERtimes.net
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Thom's Arts World
Thom Cardwell
copyright 2009
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Okay,
I'm the first to admit that I'm a very visual person. So, it's shouldn't
be at all surprising that I became interested in photography as an art form.
While I've been a collector of early photographic memorabilia (Philadelphia is
actually, in some ways, still an undiscovered and underappreciated "treasure
trove" in the history of photography in America), I'm also a big fan of books
on photography of all kinds and subjects and a frequenter visitor to museum and
gallery shows devoted to the art of photography.
A
once-a-year annual event that shouldn't be missed for people of all kinds who
have similar interests in photography as student, artist, collector, historian,
an aesthete or otherwise (maybe you simply enjoy seeing images of all kinds)
should attend The
Photo Review Benefit Auction, 7 p.m.,
November 21, to be held at the University of the Arts, Dorrance-Hamilton Building, Broad and Pine Streets, in Center City,
Philadelphia, with all proceeds to help underwrite the operations and
publication of The Photo Review, The
longstanding and prestigious magazine devoted exclusively to photography as an
art form, and published right here in the State of Pennsylvania (in Langhorne).
Jeffrey
Fuller of Fuller's Fine Art Auctions will act
as guest auctioneer in place of the publication's editor, Stephen Perloff, who is recovering from a heart attack and will be
unable to attend his own event. The magazine's Editorial Assistant Naomi Mindlin will coordinate the
event.
The public can preview all the works
for sale at the benefit auction and submit absentee bids this year at photoreview.org/auction.
A preview
at the University of the Arts, Dorrance-Hamilton
Building, Broad and Pine Streets, Philadelphia, will be
held on
November 20, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on November 21 from 11 a.m.
to 6 p.m.
Works
available for sale will range from works by local Philadelphia, Internationally-renowned, and historic
masters of Photography. Some of these will include: Edouard Baldus, Henri
Cartier-Bresson, Edward S. Curtis, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Leonard Misonne, Gordon Parks,
Man Ray, Herb Ritts, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Steichen, Josef Sudek, and
Clarence H. White.
The slate of contemporary photographers will include: Michael Bishop,
Marilyn Bridges, Carl Chiarenza, Lois Greenfield, Jefferson Hayman, Henry Horenstein, Michael
Kenna, Mark Klett, Elaine Ling, Joe Mills, Jeffrey Milstein, Bill Owens,
Catherine Steinmann, George Tice, Jonathan Torgovnik, Philip Trager, Joel-Peter Witkin, and Art Zilio.
Local
photographers will include: Andrea Baldeck, Paul
Cava, Paula Chamlee, Susan Fenton, Larry Fink, Judy Gelles, Emmet Gowin, David
Graham, Nancy Hellebrand, Catherine Jansen, D. W. Mellor, Ray K. Metzker,
Andrea Modica, Wendy Paton, Laurence Salzmann, Michael A. Smith, Sarah Stolfa,
Ron Tarver, Daniel Traub, Stephen G. Williams, and Stanley Wulc.
Prior to the silent auction on November 21, there will be a wine and food reception, beginning at 6 p.m., accompanied by a silent
auction of restaurant gift certificates, museum memberships, inkjet paper,
computer hardware and software, books, jewelry, and other collectible items.
This year's winner of The Photo Review Award will be InLiquid, Philadelphia.
Tickets
for the reception are $40 per person; patron tickets are $100 per person, and
available at the door. The annual
auction is open to the public, free of charge. A fully illustrated
catalogue is available for $12 at the door and well worth having if you're even
a potential collector in the future.
It's
a real treat to attend and a truly different event in the city, so I hope to
see you there this weekend!
For
information, visit photoreview.org
comments@QUEERtimes.net
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What They Said:
copyrighted 2009 |
 Superstar Mariah Carey has been getting so much attention
for her role as the social worker, in "Precious," directed by renegade director Lee Daniels, including all the Oscar
buzz surrounding the film, the director, some of the other cast members, and
the singer herself for best supporting actress, that some people might have
missed her latest release on CD. (Remember she's a singer/performer, not an
actress, though Daniels has perhaps found the place for Carey on the big
screen, in supporting roles, casting her in both "Tennessee" and "Precious" where she got
accolades from the critics. Glitter? What's that--something that you wear?)
"Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" offers listeners a 17-track record of Carey's
latest CD with "laid back slow-jams, power ballads and the booty bouncing first
single, 'Obsessed,' which has been making the dance floor rounds since July,"
according to music critic Justin Ocean
(Outword Magazine, October 22-November 12, 2009). Of "Memoirs," Carey has been
very candid with the press about the choice of songs and, in particular the
lyrics. "Yes,
there are very many specific moments of my life in this album," she admits,
"especially the ones that are kind of cutting and filled with sarcasm. At the
end of the day, I'm a jokester. I don't take stuff that seriously. Some people
are like, 'I'm gonna get you!' They're angry. I'm not like that. I'll give you
a funny little lyric and then laugh. I feel like there are so many little jokes
and comedic moments put in there."___________________________
 Robert Duncan
is a daring voice in the wilderness that is the world of formalized religion in
the Western Hemisphere. Even we all don't
always like to hear what he has to say, especially about the place at the table
for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer folk. For example, the
archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America
doesn't support of the gay movement within the ultraright movement. He told Deborah Solomon (The New York Times
Sunday Magazine, November 6, 2009), that the first openly gay bishop of the
Anglican Church , the Reverend Gene
Robinson, shouldn't be where he now is within the church. "He's a likable
enough guy, but the problem is that he's leading a whole generation astray. I don't believe that he
should be a bishop." Duncan and Robinson were fellow students
at the General Theological Seminary in New
York City. "Yes. That was in the early '70s. He was living a
heterosexual lifestyle at the time. He was married. The he left his wife and
later committed himself to a male partner. I don't wish him ill."
___________________________
 Well, it's official. We'll all be seeing his "johnston" and more when Levi Johnston,
"aspiring model and actor," bares it all in Playgirl, "tastefully, of course,"
everyone connected with the project is guaranteeing. But what we would be
expect otherwise from the father of former Governor and former Republican Vice
Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's
daughter's baby? Longtime nightlife promoter Daniel Nardicio, best known for his "rotating gay underwear
parties" all over New York City, was snatched by "Playgirl" magazine to serve
as their marketing director as the seasoned publication decided to go quarterly
and online. It was actually Nardicio's brainstorm to have Johnston pose in the nude for the magazine.
Reported by New York (November 16, 2009),
Nardicio assures viewers despite what press reports might be out there to the
contrary, Johnston
will be showing the "full Monty." It'll be full frontal nudity, according
to Nardicio, and Johnston
now confirms it himself. "I really thought we were just going to get ass, which I
was okay with, because it's really kind of a political statement,"
explained Johnston.
The shoot has already taken place on November 13. It included that "Johnston show off" his
natural accouterments without enhancement. Rumors are that Levi got enough to
please everyone in the size department. So into the "comfortable and sexy"
environment Johnston
is supposed to pose in everything from an elegant town car setting to a
hockey-inspired theme. All told he's supposed to be shot in four planned and
different scenarios. Of Johnston,
Nardicio commented, "I sort of look at him out of this circus as the only
ethical one."
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