08.11.06
Posted in Advocate Articles at 1:11 pm by pikapp44
Joe Quesada, editor in chief of Marvel Comics, stated that no ongoing solo series starring gay or lesbian characters at Marvel Comics will go out without a “MAX” or “Explicit content” label, reports Gayleague.com.
The comment was made on a panel at this year’s Wizard World Chicago. Quesada apologized for the company’s practice but said that the policy came about because of the amount of negative media attention Marvel received with their 2003 series featuring the Western character Rawhide Kid and his sexuality. He cited the appearance of Stan Lee on Crossfire, where the legendary comics icon was blasted by Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition for his “irresponsible’ use of a children’s character.
“The last thing we want to do is have everybody come down on the entire comic book industry,” Quesada said, “and I do think it is ridiculous.”
Quesada said he hopes for a positive change in the future and looks forward to a time when the political climate creates a less controversial environment for gay and lesbian characters in their own books, adding, “I hope it changes next week.”
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08.08.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 12:57 pm by pikapp44
The California assembly on Monday gutted a bill that would have required state textbooks to include the historical contributions of gay people, amending it to say only that school material should not be discriminatory toward gays. Lawmakers voted 56–2 to delete the provision at the request of the bill’s author, Sen.Sheila Kuehl, who had feared a gubernatorial veto
California already requires that African Americans, native peoples, Mexicans, Asians and Pacific Islanders be included in textbook descriptions of “the economic, political and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.”
Kuehl’s bill would have added gays and lesbians to the list.
Now the bill, rather than being proactive, would simply prohibit any negative portrayal of gays in textbooks and other instructional material.
The original version passed the Senate in May (story) and the governor said he would veto it if it passed the Assembly.
Both gay and conservative groups across the country have been watching the progress of the bill. If the original measure had become law similar legislation could have been pursued in other states.
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Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 5:42 am by pikapp44
A 12-year-old son’s gift of a colorful flag he found while staying with his grandparents in California has put his parents in the middle of controversy in the small town of Meade, Kan. J.R. and Robin Knight say they knew the rainbow flag was a symbol of gay rights when they decided last month to fly it on a pole in front of their business, the Lakeway Hotel. But that isn’t why they flew the banner.
“We just put it up. We didn’t think about it,” Robin says. “It has pretty colors, it’s bright, it’s summery.” And, J.R. Knight says, it was a symbolic way to have their son nearby.
The decision prompted controversy in the town of 1,600, and eventually someone cut the flag down. It’s also prompted an Internet-fueled debate on gay rights in rural America, and the Knights say they have received messages of support from around the world.
Now, the Knights say, they are determined to replace the flag and keep it flying. Waitress Vicky Best says such a flag has no place in Meade.
“It’s hard enough to keep your kids on the straight and narrow without outside influences like that,” she complains. “We stay in a small town to stay away from the crap like that that’s happening in big cities,” she says, calling homosexuality “biblically wrong.”
But retiree Charles Helms says he doesn’t care if the Knights fly the flag. “If he wants to fly that thing, let him fly it,” Helms says. “I don’t have a problem at all because I know the story behind it.”
The Knights say they have no problems with gay people but that they have never taken a role in the gay rights movement.
The Knights say the anger displayed by some residents has strengthened their resolve to keep the rainbow flag flying. Flying the flag not only protests discrimination, they say, but they also believe that giving in to the pressure would send the wrong message to their son Anthony.
“It’s our business. It shouldn’t be dictated by other people,” Robin Knight says. So when someone cut away the flag last week, leaving behind only tattered corners, the Knights quickly ordered two more and said more will be coming to replace any others that might be destroyed.
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08.07.06
Posted in E's Thoughts, Gay Portal at 9:20 am by pikapp44
Mack Planet “try it you’ll like it” if you need gay accommodations, jobs, pets, housing, roommates, nightlife and much, much more!!!
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08.04.06
Posted in Advocate Articles at 1:07 pm by pikapp44
In an interview with the Christian news service Agape Press, Republican candidate for Georgia attorney general Perry McGuire said that allowing gay clubs to meet in schools is “much like allowing a pedophile club or a gambling club to meet at school.” McGuire was responding to a question about a recent federal court ruling allowing a gay-straight alliance to meet at White County High School in Georgia.
In that ruling U.S. district court judge William C. O’Kelley said that the school had violated the Federal Equal Access Act by barring the student group, called PRIDE, from meeting on campus while allowing other noncurricular clubs to do so.
In the interview McGuire described the GSA as a “gay sex” club. “I think the problem here, and I think where the court substantially erred, is that the intent of the act was never to allow organizations that advocate illegal activity [to have campus access],” he told Agape Press. “And in Georgia, sex between minors is illegal; statutory rape laws apply.
“Homosexual activist clubs in schools are detrimental to students and to the moral well-being of society,” he continued.
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Posted in Gay Rights at 1:04 pm by pikapp44
The National Park Service has imposed severe restrictions on an AIDS-awareness event planned for New York City this Sunday. And the organizers of Pride in the City have called the decision “old-fashioned racism and homophobia.”
The group People of Color in Crisis organizes the annual Pride in the City, featuring booths and musical performers, to help spread the word about safe sex and offer free HIV tests. Last year the event drew some 5,000 people to Jacob Riis Park in Queens.
But this year the National Park Service is capping the number it will allow at 1,500, and moving the event from the beach to a small ball field. A park service spokeswoman tells the New York Daily News that the agency is enforcing rules that it hasn’t in the past “for the safety of all visitors.”
People of Color in Crisis executive director Gary English says the restrictions are “ridiculous and insensitive,” especially because the event has never had law enforcement problems with drugs or violence in its six-year history. “It wasn’t like an event that had, you know, a history of a lot of bad incidents,” said English. “It’s the opposite.”
After the Park Service announced the restrictions this week, New York politicians jumped into the fray, siding with Pride in the City, including Congressman Anthony Weiner and out city council speaker Christine Quinn. English credits their help and the media attention with a partial change of heart by the Park Service, which lifted its initial ban on amplified music.
“This is a great country that we have a democracy, and we have the ability to let our legislators know, our elected officials, and the administration that runs this national park, that we’re not satisfied with their decision,” said English.
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08.03.06
Posted in Advocate Articles at 2:32 pm by pikapp44
Billie Jean King’s name will be added to the National Tennis Center during an opening-night ceremony at the U.S. Open, The New York Times reported Thursday. The plan to rename the tennis center in Flushing, N.Y., was to be announced at a news conference Thursday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. King, her mother, Betty, and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg were expected to attend.
“This is a show of faith and respect,” King told the Times. “And with it, a sense of responsibility. I don’t think I’ll ever comprehend this.” The change will take effect August 28, the start of the U.S. Open, the newspaper reported.
The United States Tennis Association previously honored Ashe by naming its stadium after him nine years ago. King is honored to share her name at the center with Ashe, the first black man to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.
King, the only woman to win U.S. singles titles on all four surfaces—grass, clay, carpet, and hard—won a record 20 Wimbledon titles and four U.S. Open championships. She also beat Bobby Riggs in a nationally televised showdown billed as “The Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, a triumph that brought attention to women’s sports.
Arlen Kantarian, the USTA’s chief executive of professional tennis, told the newspaper that the association had long been exploring ways to honor King. “You’re talking about coming up with something that measured up to the impact Billie Jean has had on tennis and society,” he said.
USTA chairman Franklin Johnson said he brought up the idea of renaming the center for King in March. The USTA voted unanimously in favor of the proposal last month.
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