Who's the expert that all of the television networks are calling for their segments on Don't Ask Don't Tell? Dr. Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow at the UCLA Palm Center and author of Unfriendly Fire.

Unfriendly Fire became a staple for anyone who wanted to learn more about gays in the military right after it was published. Last week, the paperback edition was released and we've got 5 autographed copies to give away to Projectors.

With DADT repeal heating up dramatically lately, you'll want your own copy of Dr. Frank's book so you can be the smart & timely guest at cocktail parties. You'll be able to hold forth on all the finer points of gays in the military and it'll all be thanks to Unfriendly Fire.

To win, just leave a comment on this post. You can only enter once and please use a valid e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. Any duplicate entries submitted will be deleted. Contest ends on Thursday, March 11 at noon (12pm) Eastern.

After the jump is video of an interview I did with Dr. Frank in early February. We talk about DADT repeal and the upcoming paperback release of his book.

Continue reading "Contest: 5 autographed copies of Unfriendly Fire" »

While I was gone last week, another conservative Republican who votes against LGBT rights turned out to be gay. I'm sure you've heard already how California senator Roy Ashburn was caught drunk-driving home from a gay bar and then came out. And now the Religious Right is asking for his head. What else can they do? The guy voted their way but that's not enough; he has to be the right kind of person.

"Roy Ashburn should resign," Randy Thomasson, president of the Christian-based SaveCalifornia.com, said in a statement released Tuesday. "His lying, cheating ways have boiled over and the public's trust has been shattered."[...]

Thomasson called Ashburn "dramatically out of step with his constituents" because he has "openly identified with the 'LGBT' [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] lifestyle."
"Demonstrating himself to be self-serving," Thomasson added, "Ashburn has proven himself untrustworthy as a public servant."

Ashburn, who is a father of four, divorced his wife in 2003. Nevertheless, Thomasson listed infidelity as another reason for calling for his resignation: "He vowed to be faithful to his wife, then broke his vows when he chose homosexuality over his marriage."

And called Ashburn "mistaken" about being gay: "No one is truly 'gay' because the so-called 'gay gene' does not exist. What's more, there are thousands of Americans who formerly engaged in homosexual behavior who have gotten help and have left their unnatural lifestyle behind."

You'd think that "choice" would make Thomasson reconsider his warped view of reality. If someone with all the motivation in the world to be straight, like a Republican legislator with a stable career who had a wife and children, wasn't able to do it, maybe a sex drive is more powerful than mere intelligence or will or morality and we should learn to respect it.

Continue reading "For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword" »

The annual South By South West conference and festival in Austin, Texas, is one of the biggest and most popular festivals in the nation. It combines film, music and the internet into a sort of interactive geek fest, film festival and rock concert. Tens of thousands of people attend each year. My understanding though, is that they've never had a session that was explicitly queer. Until now.

I've been invited to be a speaker at this weekend's only LGBT-focused session: Engaging The Queer Community. Co-panelists will include Trish Bendix from AfterEllen and Sinclair Sexsmith of SugarButch. The moderator will be Fausto Fernos of Feast of Fun podcast.

Jerame and I are driving down to Austin from Indiana, so posts from me will be light from Thursday through Tuesday of next week. If you live in the Austin area and plan on attending either the session or the party, leave a comment and let me know so we can be sure to hook up while we're there.

Of course, we're throwing a party while we're in town. Details on how to claim your free drinks after the jump.

Continue reading "Free Drinks in Austin: SXSW Queer Blogger Tweetup" »

In Washington DC, on the north side of the Potomac River, LGBT people have employment discrimination protections and, starting today, will begin getting married. In Virginia on the south side of the Potomac, same sex couples are barred by a 2006 amendment to the Virginia Constitution from having their relations recognized on any legal basis under the state's laws. Worse yet, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has launched a potential with hunt where gay state employees can be fired at will solely because of their sexual orientation.

What the Hell has happened to Virginia which provided such brilliant and enlightened leadership in the founding of the nation? Ever since the end of the Civil War, Virginia has taken up the banner of discrimination and reactionary thinking, leading the way in Jim Crow laws, bans on interracial marriage that only ended when the U.S. Supreme Court acted, and now unleashing Neanderthal theocrats at the highest levels of state government who display a mindset akin to that of the leadership in Tehran. As a Virginia resident, the trend is frightening.

Continue reading "Virginia and D.C. - Two Worlds Only A River Apart " »

Oh dear, I've been sick as a dog for the last few days. Children with germs- what can you do? And they wonder why I yell at them when they come and drink from my ever present glass of water.

Git!

I've been pondering for the last few days a picture my sister posted on Facebook of my great aunts house in Lynchburg, VA. She was driving to Georgia to pack up her last things, and stopped on the way. What was once a grand, beautiful home is now in shambles. It breaks my heart- my great grandfather built that house. My great aunts all born there, and died there.

So many family members died there. The place was incredibly haunted.

Continue reading "Haunted Memory" »

This Daily Show clip on ChatRoulette.com cracked me up, and I'm sure we could all use a laugh right about now.

Is this the new gay cruising site? I can never keep up with that - I'm old enough to remember when PlanetOut was all the rage and the last time I chatted online it was on Gay.com.

Samantha Bee's video with the man with the world's biggest penis is after the jump.

Continue reading "Two funny Daily Show penis videos" »

We all know it's the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's "Party with a Purpose" and that the proceeds do a lot of good, but for me, the annual highlight of my attendance at the Under One Sun Pool Party event is the sight of the assembled pulchritude of thousands of handsome men in the prime of life wearing almost nothing.

And yet, this is a fashion review. Want to know what the hottest guys on the planet are wearing to pool and beach? I've chosen 25 photos that will show you the swimwear, footwear, headgear, jewelry and sunglasses that you'll see on every hunk and twink this season from Buenos Aires to Fire Island and from Barcelona to San Diego. Plus, I've included some observations to guide your selections.

All after the jump, plus my interview with Carson Kressley! (And as a real bonus, a pic of three Rufskin models from the Friday night fashion show at a Lincoln Road store called Base!)

Continue reading "The 2010 Winter Party Festival Fashion Review" »

Sad that I don't know the artist (perhaps some reader does?), but looks to be early 1920s, and just rare enough to be a gem.

The international pressure continues to mount on Uganda over the odious Anti-Homosexuality "Kill the Gays" Bill.

The US State Department is responding to a letter by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) about the Bill currently in the Ugandan Parliament by saying it is "a serious affront to internationally accepted human rights standards." From HRC Backstory:

Senator Wyden's letter called for a review of Uganda's preferred trade status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which authorizes duty-free importation of certain goods from preferred status countries.  As a condition of receiving preferred status under AGOA, a country must not be engaged in "gross violations of internationally recognized human rights."   In its letter, the State Department said that it will work closely with Congress and other stakeholders during its yearly review of AGOA eligibility.

But the State Department isn't stopping there when it comes to international LGBT rights. That, and more Uganda News about the Pope's silence on the Bill, after the jump...

Continue reading "Uganda's Trade Status to be Reviewed by State Department and the Pope Turns a Blind Eye to "Kill the Gays" Bill" »

Maybe I'm just hung over, but sometimes the LGBT blogosphere gets me in a real funk.

What a sad group we are, badgering celebrities about their personal lives, boycotting and ridiculing them when they don't live up to our ridiculous standard of advocacy, publicly shaming people who have been charged with but not convicted of crimes, throwing daggers at public officials upon their outing. Would you want to come out if you knew this is what you would face?

The message I get from all this hate flying around our own community is that queers are liars and creeps deserving of nothing but scorn. If we treat our own this badly, why are we surprised when other people treat us badly, too?

What was I thinking? The weather forecast for the Northwest was "partly cloudy, showers", generally a safe bet, so I wore a big black raincoat and layers for my trip to Seattle and Portland. Had I forgotten the daffodils during the Vancouver Olympics? Forsythia, flowering quince, blooming tulip trees and blindingly blue skies greeted my squinting, and grateful eyes for my Northwest sojourn.

After a great lunch at Seattle's Wild Ginger with producer/activist Paul Bauer who had picked me up at SeaTac in his black El Camino, I had a quick nap. I woke up with a quick Starbucks double latte - I did not notice any open-carry weaponeers in the order line - and headed to the Triple Door Theater for two shows produced by Square Peg Entertainment. The second show at 1030p, my 130a, was a wild ride, but thanks to Sarah Palin, it's now okay to write my whole show cheat sheet on my hand, so I was fine.

Continue reading "A party in Portland (& Seattle!)" »

Editors' note: Evan Wolfson is founder and Executive Director of Freedom to Marry. In 2004 TIME magazine named Evan one of the "100 most influential people in the world."

Today, surrounded by friends and family, the first same-sex couples in Washington D.C. to receive marriage licenses are celebrating their legal marriages. D.C. now officially joins the five states and eight countries that have ended exclusion from marriage. Marriage in our nation's capital marks a significant victory not only for D.C. couples who no longer need to leave home to secure the protections and responsibilities of marriage, but also for the national movement to win the freedom to marry.

Local advocates spent years doing the critical work of educating lawmakers, engaging with District residents about gay people and marriage, telling personal stories, and building relationships with key allies. That work has resulted in same-sex couples being better able to care for their families - and took nothing away from any other family.

Our victory in D.C. brings us one step closer to winning marriage for all committed couples - and other victories are within reach. A key component of the Freedom to Marry roadmap to winning marriage nationwide is to grow the number of states where same-sex couples share in the freedom to marry. The more states that end the denial of marriage, the more Americans get to see with their own eyes families helped and no one hurt. The more states we win, the closer America comes to the climate that will enable a federal victory in Congress or the Supreme Court, bringing national resolution.

Continue reading "Following DC: What the Freedom to Marry in Our Capital Means Nationwide" »