All But Forgotten

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

Or maybe not. A gay bar, opened for only two weeks, gets raided in Ft. Worth Texas on the anniversary of Stonewall. One gay man is spending Independence Day in the Intensive Care Unit with severe brain injury. His distraught mother describes the injuries inflicted by the police in this video:



And here in California last week, a middle aged lesbian couple's Democratic fundraiser ends in homophobic taunts, arrests and pepper spray.

And what's as All-American as baseball, Mom, and apple pie?

If you guessed homophobia, you win a t-shirt that is now being worn at every Chicago White Sox game!


You see, Chicago White Sox fans are winners, while Cubs fans are gay.

Let's all sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow together...

And, moving right along, for those who continue to advise patience, I've tried to hang with you, but it's starting to look like a classic case of denial. Because obviously Obama has abandoned his campaign promises to the gay community.

No? He hasn't? He has a secret plan for winning us our rights? Okaaaaaaaaaay.


Dream on, baby. (I was always a Rolling Stones fan, myself).

David Mixner, former lovesick Obama cheerleader, says separate but unequal is gay apartheid.

Gay apartheid. That's what we've got.

Poor David Mixner. Another sucker who fell hard for the hopey-change gimmick.



Aw, but it made such a great t-shirt.

Labor Department Employees Deface Gay Pride Posters

Labor secretary denounces gay pride poster vandals.

Jun 29th, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is denouncing vandals who defaced many of the gay pride posters installed at the agency's Washington headquarters.

Solis, the first secretary in the department's history to publicly recognize Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, sent an agency-wide e-mail last Friday saying she would not tolerate anti-gay misconduct.

"It appears, however, that some members of the Labor Department team have a different view, as it has come to my attention that most of the posters have been continually defaced or removed," Solis said. "On several occasions, even the poster frames have been torn completely off the elevator walls."

The posters first went up at the agency's headquarters on June 1. Solis said they will stay up until the end of the month and would be replaced immediately if they are removed or destroyed.

"I do not believe these actions represent the majority of our employees, so I refuse to let this situation define us," Solis said. "But I do want to make myself absolutely clear: Respect for others is nonnegotiable at the U.S. Department of Labor."

A department spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the status of the investigation into the vandalism.

The agency enforces fair and safe work places around the country, Solis noted, adding that every Labor Department employee should be committed to "working with all employers and employees, no matter their race, color, religion or sexual orientation."

The incidents came to light as President Barack Obama prepared to host a White House reception Monday evening to commemorate gay pride month.

Aren't these the people charged with preventing discrimination in the workplace?

As those in power continue to deprive us of our rights, they send a message that we do not deserve to be treated with the same respect as other groups.

Grow the Fuck Up, Martina

Must have been a bad hair day. Or something.
Daily Mail Online:

Martina Navratilova is being sued for millions by a former lover who claims she was dumped without warning after nearly eight years.

Toni Layton has filed a lawsuit for the ‘emotional, mental and physical trauma’ she claims she suffered.

She says she was ‘removed’ from the tennis legend’s life and locked out of the six multi-million-dollar homes they shared.

The lawsuit, filed in Sarasota, Florida, claims Miss Navratilova – who won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon a record nine times – has refused to return hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of property owned and registered in Miss Layton’s sole name.

This includes a classic Mercedes Benz, two Land Rovers, a Jeep, a speedboat, two jet-skis, two scooters and two all-terrain vehicles.

It also claims Miss Navratilova, 52, has refused to return gifts including jewellery, a bicycle, ceramic pots, pets and even three guns – two shotguns and a pistol.

Equality has its blessings and its responsibilities. I really wish Martina would stop taking up with women and then leaving them in a cardboard box outside the local animal shelter when she gets bored with them. What an ass.

Pride Weekend: Movies

no time to watch it before posting---God, I hope Claire of the fucking Moon isn't included in this. If so, I apologize in advance.

My favorite lesbian film? Hmmm...This one would certainly be on my top list.

Pride Weekend

K.D. performs the great Leonard Cohen song.

Pride Weekend

From 1984, half a lifetime ago!

Over the Rainbow

Stonewall 101: My American History

Last Monday was the fortieth anniversary of death of Judy Garland. Her most famous role, at least for people my age, was in The Wizard of Oz. Before the advent of DVDs and VCRs it was a big deal in our house when TV stations ran the classic film once every year. On those nights I'd finish dinner early, in time to plant myself in front of the tube and watch Dorothy dream of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." Those goddamn flying monkeys used to scare the shit out of me, and when the witch and her soldiers set the Scarecrow's arm on fire I would run out of the room in tears. How could that band of displaced misfits fight off the evil witch and her soldiers? The good guys all survive of course, the wicked witch melts into a puddle of green goo and Dorothy hugs Toto and says "there's no place like home." Fade-out. It's probably the only story where the writers can get away with claiming "it was all a dream, Dorothy" at the end without the audience throwing rotten tomatoes at the screen.

Garland died in London in 1969 from what the coroner called "an incautious overdose of barbiturates." Her health had been in decline for sometime and given the long hours she endured both as a child and an adult actor in Hollywood, the multiple rocky marriages and years of drugs and alcohol abuse, it's no wonder she wore out at 47.

A week after her death, across the Atlantic ocean in Greenwich Village, New York the NYPD Morals Squad was about to conduct another routine raid on a gay bar. Bar raids occurred regularly back then and police brutality directed at gays was commonplace. American gays and lesbians in the 50s and 60s faced a legal system more anti-gay than those of some of the Warsaw Pact countries. Bar patrons would often be beaten before they were placed under arrest and escorted out in handcuffs, photographed, and had their names printed in the newspapers. Many lost their jobs and families as a result.

The patrons of the Stonewall Inn were not in a particularly good mood that hot summer evening in late June, 1969. Garland had been a popular figure in the community, particularly among gay men who identified with her tragic life. Many had come together that night to have a quiet drink and mourn her death. So when they heard the familiar crash of the doors being kicked in yet again, one of the patrons (gay lore has it that it was a drag queen) stood up and hurled an empty beer bottle at the cop's heads: get out of here and leave us alone!

No one really knows who stood up first that night, but who can resist the image of a guy in a skirt and high heels fending off some leering, bull-necked cop? A huge fight broke out between the gays and the police, spilling out onto Christopher Street in front of the Stonewall bar. The police--some of whom were bruised and shaken, having never known the pansies to fight back-- quickly lost control of the situation and radioed for reinforcements to deal with the hundreds of angry protesters converging outside the bar. The cops eventually broke it up, and carted people off to jail, but the incident at the Stonewall Inn is considered the flashpoint for the modern gay civil rights movement.

And that is why June is gay pride month and why it's connected to the death of the singer.

(I hope I got that right, or at least close).

Pride Weekend

If you are tired of Michael Jackson, here is more Breaking News:

From Psych Central News:
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on June 26, 2009

Older Women Still Enjoy Sex. (Editorial comment from Bullfighter: Imagine that. Thanks for the update, John. Now we can all fuck guilt free knowing it's OK, and we aren't as abnormal as society wants us to believe that we are.) There’s a common misconception that as women age, they lose interest in sex due to their own physical problems. A new University of California-San Francisco study shows that is not the case for most women.

The study also showed significant differences in the frequency of sexual activity, as well as sexual desire and satisfaction, among racial groups of middle-aged and elderly women.

In the study of nearly 2,000 women, aged 45 to 80 years old, 43 percent reported at least moderate sexual desire, and 60 percent had been sexually active in the previous three months.

Half of all sexually active participants described their overall sexual satisfaction as moderate to high. More than one quarter of women aged 65 years or older remained moderately or highly interested in sex, and more than one third of women in this age group had been sexually active in the past three months.

Among sexually inactive women in the entire group, the most common reason was lack of interest in sex (39 percent), followed by lack of a partner (36 percent), physical problem of partner (23 percent) and lack of interest by partner (11 percent).

Only nine percent were sexually inactive from personal physical problems.

Sexual activity was defined as any activity that was arousing, including masturbation.

“Our findings indicate that a substantial portion of women are interested and engaged in sexual activity as they age,” said lead author Alison Huang, MD, assistant professor in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

“Clinicians should consider a woman’s overall health when addressing concerns about sexual inactivity. However, treatment directed solely at improving women’s sexual functioning, such as medications, may not substantially affect their activity if partner issues also are not addressed.”

The U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse and older, as the first wave of baby boomers is turning 65 years old. Researchers evaluated multiple dimensions of sexual functioning among a racially and ethnically diverse group of middle-aged and older women who self–identified demographic characteristics, medical history, medication use and health habits. More than half the women in the overall study were of non-white ethnicity — 20 percent were African-American, 18 percent were Latina, and 19 percent were Asian – and over two-thirds of participants were married or living as married.

African-American women were more likely than white women to report at least moderate desire but less likely to report weekly sexual activity, and sexually active Latinas were more likely than white women to report at least moderate sexual satisfaction.

“To date, research has focused rather narrowly on the physical factors that contribute to women’s sexual response, and very little analysis has explored sexual function among racially and ethnically diverse women.”

“Further work is needed to understand the differences in self-reported sexual functioning by race, and how they change as women age. Ultimately, this information should help guide clinicians in discussing sexual problems with women of diverse backgrounds,” said Huang.

The study appeared in the June 24 online version of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Source: University of California - San Francisco

RIP, Farrah

It's hard to explain to anyone that didn't attend an American high school in the mid-nineteen seventies the impact she had on hairstyle and fashion. Nearly everyone either wanted to look like her or date her (my Charlie's Angeles crush was on the brainy, dark-eyed Sabrina played by Kate Jackson). Farrah was IT until boring Bo Derek came along. And the poster was everywhere, even my stodgy old English teacher pinned one up on the wall next to our assignment board. Farrah was never taken as seriously as an actor as she'd hoped, but her performances in The Burning Bed, Extremities, and The Apostle received critical acclaim.



We didn't watch the documentary that aired several weeks ago about her fight with cancer. We've heard enough cancer stories in this house to last several lifetimes. I read somewhere she asked about the overnight ratings numbers the day after it aired--Hollywood 'til the end.

I found this quote on the Internet a few minutes ago: "Ryan and I talked about death once. We didn`t allow any outcome into our minds except getting well," she told Entertainment Tonight.

Somewhere her spirit is healing.