Washington Blade Action! Alert en-us http://washblade.com/rss Washington Blade Action! Alert 2009 - Washington Blade: The Gay and Lesbian News Source of Record - D.C. and National Gay News, Entertainment and Opinion Fri, 28 Sep 2007 05:00:00 EDT Fri, 28 Sep 2007 05:00:00 EDT editor@washblade.com Ja Fool Ja Fool
Rapper blames America's problems on MTV 'promoting homosexuality'
By RYAN LEE
Friday, September 28, 2007
Rapper Ja Rule — whose song titles include “Dial 'M' for Murder,” “Niggas & Bitches” and “Gun Talk,” and whose business associates were investigated by the FBI for drug dealing and money laundering — believes that MTV including gay men and lesbians in its programming is “fucking up America” and making it impossible for his young children to watch television.

The undersized rapper, whose legal name is Jeffrey Atkins, unleashed an anti-gay tirade during an interview with Complex magazine after being asked about upcoming congressional hearings into hip-hop's depiction of black women.

“They g ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/9-28/view/actionalert/11321.cfm Fri, 28 Sep 2007 05:00:00 EST Carlson outed as basher? Carlson outed as basher?
TV host brags of beating gay man who 'bothered' him in restroom
By DYANA BAGBY
Friday, September 07, 2007
HE'S NOT GAY, nor has he ever been gay. But maybe he's a gay basher. And gay groups are calling for a public apology.

On the Aug. 28 broadcast of “MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams,” Tucker Carlson first mocked the news conference given by embattled Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) when news broke of his guilty plea in charges related to a sting operation in the men's restroom at a Minnesota airport.

Then Carlson described how, as a high school student, he was “bothered” by a man in a mall restroom in Washington.

According to the transcript of the show, Carlson said he returned to the restroom “with someone [he] knew and grabbed t ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/9-7/view/actionalert/11195.cfm Fri, 7 Sep 2007 05:00:00 EST A cue to protest fo A cue to protest fo
Billiards company cancels product endorsed by 'Sopranos' sta
By RYAN LEE
Friday, August 24, 2007
IN JANUARY, THE GAY & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation nominated “The Sopranos” for the organization's annual media award for “Outstanding Drama Series” after the HBO mafia program featured a gay mobster who was eventually sodomized and killed with a pool cue.

But last month, Joseph Gannascoli — the actor who played Vito Spatafore, the gay character on “The Sopranos” — and Oregon-based Rockwell Billiards were caught behind the eight ball after attempting to parlay the gay “Sopranos” storyline into commercial success.

A July 30 press release sent out by Rockwell Billiards depicted the stout Gannas ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/8-24/view/actionalert/11123.cfm Fri, 24 Aug 2007 05:00:00 EST Good Samaritans? Good Samaritans?
Bush calls for more abstinence-only funding in HIV fight

By RYAN LEE
Friday, June 08, 2007
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH recently doubled the size of his footprint in his effort to stamp-out global AIDS. But in doing so, Bush also delivered another kick in the face to gay and bisexual men across the world — along with others for whom abstinence-until-marriage is impractical or impossible —by denying them access to comprehensive safe-sex education.

Bush announced last month that he would ask Congress to double the $15 billion anti-AIDS initiative known as the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, which Bush first unveiled in his 2003 State of the Union address. The re-authorization of the PEPFAR initiative calls for $15 billion to be spent over a five ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/6-8/view/actionalert/10731.cfm Fri, 8 Jun 2007 05:00:00 EST GLAAD's colorful ads GLAAD's colorful ads
Spots in minority media ask families to love their gay children
By ZACH HUDSON
Friday, June 01, 2007

A WEB SITE FOR THE POPULAR, YET occasionally gay-baiting, syndicated radio talk-show host Tom Joyner is a target for a new advertising campaign designed to start conversations about being gay and coming out among black and Hispanic families in urban markets.

“To know me is to love me unconditionally,” reads a line in one of the ads above a close-up of Krystal Freeman, 21, a lesbian working toward a career in urban planning. Freeman writes in the ad that one of her expectations is “to be loved by my mom and dad, no matter who I love.”

The ads, created by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's People of Color Media Program, appear ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/6-1/view/actionalert/10704.cfm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 05:00:00 EST Ex-gay not OK Ex-gay not OK
Website provides support, resources for survivors of ex-gay therapy
By
Friday, May 18, 2007
FOR 17 YEARS, PETERSON TOSCANO tried desperately to tame his same-sex attraction. He invested $30,000 in reparative therapy programs, mostly Christian-based, including a two-year stint at the Love in Action residential 12-step ex-gay program in Memphis, Tenn., where he underwent hours of counseling as well as trying to simply “pray the gay away.”

“In the end I was still very gay, but also depressed, isolated and nearly faithless,” he said.

Now a Christian Quaker, Toscano created a one-person comedy about his ex-gay experiences and has presented “Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House” and his other works throughout North A ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/5-18/view/actionalert/10603.cfm Fri, 18 May 2007 05:00:00 EST Gay 'Chemistry' lesson Gay 'Chemistry' lesson
Dating website takes on eHarmony.com's gay ban
By ZACH HUDSON
Friday, May 11, 2007
A $10 million ad campaign for Chemistry.com, a matchmaking website, asks why a competing site rejects certain groups of singles, including gay men and lesbians.

The “Rejected by eHarmony,” ads, which will be seen online, on television and in print during May, include an eyebrow-raising TV spot that shows a man intently engrossed in the pages of a nudie magazine, which features a scantily clad woman on its cover. After a moment, the man shrugs and declares his intent in the next beat. “Nope. Still gay,” he says before the ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/5-11/view/actionalert/10573.cfm Fri, 11 May 2007 05:00:00 EST A harsh lesson A harsh lesson
Teacher, school reach settlement in flap over student column
By JOEY DIGUGLIELMO
Friday, May 04, 2007
A settlement has been reached in a dispute between a journalism teacher at Woodlan Junior-Senior High School in Woodburn, Ind., and East Allen County Schools that stems from a student-penned op-ed piece supporting gays that ran in January in the school newspaper.

Amy Sorrell will remain with East Allen school district but will be transferred to Heritage Junior-Senior High School where she'll teach English. As part of the settlement, Sorrell was forced to issue an apology stating that she did not intend to suggest that the district was intolerant of gays. She was suspended without pay for one week.

Sorrell hedged a bit, though, in a post-settlement statement that ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/5-4/view/actionalert/10529.cfm Fri, 4 May 2007 05:00:00 EST Blood boiling over ban Blood boiling over ban
FDA policy remains controversial, triggering new protests
By JOEY DIGUGLIELMO
Friday, April 27, 2007

The U.S. debate concerning the Food & Drug Administration's unwillingness to revise a ban that prevents men who've had sex with men since 1977 from donating blood and bone marrow shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

Elected officials in Cathedral City, Calif., this month voted unanimously in favor of approving a resolution urging the FDA to review its policy, according to a report in the Desert Sun, a Palm Springs, Calif., newspaper. City Councilmember Greg Pettis, who's gay, said he put the resolution on the agenda after a gay Cleveland councilmember urged him to follow Cleveland's lead, the Sun said. Cleveland City Council recently passed a similar resolution.

In M ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/4-27/view/actionalert/10498.cfm Fri, 27 Apr 2007 05:00:00 EST Pro-gay in the ERA? Pro-gay in the ERA?
Opponents claim amendment will legalize same-sex marriage
By
Friday, April 06, 2007
Phyllis Schlafly, executive director of the socially conservative Eagle Forum, has been fighting the Equal Rights Amendment since it rose in the public's conscious in the 1970s. The proposed amendment, currently being considered in the newly Democratic-controlled Congress, would legalize same-sex marriage in the U.S., she claims.

“I think that's obvious [that the ERA would legalize same-sex marriage],” Schlafly said this week.

“It would make all our laws sex neutral. If you deny a marriage license to a man and a man, you've obviously discriminated based on sex,” she added. “It's the word use in the amendment. They don't use 'women,' ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/4-6/view/actionalert/10355.cfm Fri, 6 Apr 2007 05:00:00 EST Savage 'freak' show Savage 'freak' show
Radio jock blasts transgender murder victim
By ZACH HUDSON
Friday, March 30, 2007

A BRASH RADIO HOST who launched into an on-air diatribe about a transgender murder victim will likely escape the incident without facing punitive measures from his network.

After reading a San Francisco Chronicle story on-the-air about a transgender woman who was found dead alongside a San Francisco area roadway, a seemingly outraged Michael Savage, host of the nationally syndicated “Savage Nation” radio show, vented to listeners during a March 20 broadcast.

“And what's this sympathy, constant sympathy for sexually confused people,” he asked.

“Why should we have constant sympathy for people who are freaks in every society,” Sav ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/3-30/view/actionalert/10301.cfm Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:00:00 EST Ford's rough road Ford's rough road
Automaker disputes claim that anti-gay boycott is working
By ZACH HUDSON
Friday, March 16, 2007

An anti-gay religious organization's claims of success in its long-running boycott of Ford Motor Company are untrue, according to the struggling auto giant.

American Family Association Founder Donald Wildmon claimed in a March 8 letter to AFA members that Ford had dropped its advertising in gay magazines the Advocate, and Out, as well as its sponsorship of the upcoming GLAAD Media Awards, due to pressures from the AFA, which launched a boycott against Ford in 2005.

“Since January, Ford has not had any advertising in the magazines. In addition, Ford no longer sponsors the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards, which they have sponsored for years, ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/3-16/view/actionalert/10223.cfm Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:00:00 EST Kimmel's trans-gression Kimmel's trans-gression
Talk show apologizes for jokes on transgender beauty
By ZACH HUDSON
Friday, March 09, 2007
On the heels of being publicly called out by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the producers of late-night ABC gab fest “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” apologized for a recent rant of jokes by host Jimmy Kimmel about the appearance of transgender women.

“In the future, please know we will be more sensitive should a similar circumstance arise,” show staff members wrote in a March 2 letter to GLAAD.

Along with transgender activists from across the country, GLAAD objected to remarks Kimmel made during an interview with actress Rebecca Romijn that aired Feb. 21. Romijn portrays Alexis Meade, a transgender woman who faked her own death a ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/3-9/view/actionalert/10168.cfm Fri, 9 Mar 2007 05:00:00 EST Hate crimes hysterics? Hate crimes hysterics?
Anti-gay groups say proposed bill threatens religious freedom
By DYANA BAGBY
Friday, March 02, 2007

A proposed federal hate crimes bill including protections based on sexual orientation has numerous anti-gay groups crying foul, alleging such a law would deny their right to speak out against homosexuality.

But the bill's sponsor and gay rights activists dismiss the claims as overblown and ridiculous.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) introduced H.R. 254, also known as the David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act, on Jan. 5. It currently awaits action in the House Judiciary Committee and is similar to hate crimes measures passed by the House in 2005 and the Senate in 2004.

The bill would allow federal intervention to assist states in responding to hate crimes &ldq ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/3-2/view/actionalert/10120.cfm Fri, 2 Mar 2007 05:00:00 EST Reckless 'Passions' Reckless 'Passions'
Daytime drama criticized for down-low storyline
By ZACK HUDSON
Friday, February 23, 2007
In the face of 300-year-old witches and the once present threat of falling in love with and marrying his half-sister, Chad Harris Crane, a longtime hero on the NBC Daytime drama “Passions,” might just find his latest entanglement with a mysterious male lover to be a welcome respite.

Some gay and black soap fans, however, are steamed over what some say is a reckless and negligent portrayal of down-low relationships, when seemingly straight men have affairs with other men.

“This revelation that Chad is cheating on his wife and true love, Whitney, with an unidentified male lover certainly has come out of left field,” said TVGuide.com soap c ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/2-23/view/actionalert/10076.cfm Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:00:00 EST Venus goes 'ex-gay' Venus goes 'ex-gay'
Magazine now encourages black gays to leave homosexuality
By DYANA BAGBY
Friday, February 16, 2007

When Atlanta lesbian activist Venus Landin was shot to death by her ex-partner on March 2, 1993, in a murder-suicide, her close friend and fellow gay rights activist Charlene Cothran expressed deep grief for the loss of a vibrant soul.

“Nobody can fill the shoes of Venus Landin,” she said 13 years ago. “She was always trying to bridge the gaps between everybody.”

Cothran, a respected lesbian in the 1990s in Atlanta's black gay community, wanted to pay tribute to her friend, and in 1995 she founded Venus Magazine with the mission of informing black gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people across the country about issues affecting their lives.

 http://washblade.com/2007/2-16/view/actionalert/10048.cfm Fri, 16 Feb 2007 05:00:00 EST Not so 'Bravo' Not so 'Bravo'
Reality show's bad-boy brothers trade anti-gay slurs

By ZACK HUDSON
Friday, February 09, 2007
A gay-popular television network with three GLAAD Media Award nominations has raised the ire of the gay media watchdog group by airing a reality show tirade in which two brothers exchanged anti-gay slurs.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation complained about an altercation between brothers Shane and Colton Keough, whose mother Jeana Keough is a principal cast member of Bravo's “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” The reality show documents the conflicts and triumphs of a group of wealthy women who live in ritzy Coto de Caza, Calif.

During the episode that first aired Jan. 23, Shane, who is 20, was watching television with friends whe ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/2-9/view/actionalert/9988.cfm Fri, 9 Feb 2007 05:00:00 EST Hoax or hate? Hoax or hate?
'Bible Says' singer won't say if video is parody of 'ex-gay' movement
By DYANA BAGBY
Friday, February 02, 2007

Who is Pastor Donnie Davies, the internet sensation behind the song and video that touts “God hates a fag”?  As of press time Jan. 31, the jury is apparently still out.

On Jan. 27, Joe Jervis, the blogger behind the web site JoeMyGod.com, wrote he believes Davies is actually a Dallas-based actor and sketch comedian named Joey Oglesby. Jervis thinks the actor is poking fun at “ex-gay” ministries and speculates he is using the internet as a marketing tool for an upcoming movie.

But despite rampant speculation by gay bloggers, Davies states through his publicist that he, his song (“The Bible Says”), his band (“Evening Service&rdq ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/2-2/view/actionalert/9951.cfm Fri, 2 Feb 2007 05:00:00 EST 'Anatomy' of a slu 'Anatomy' of a slu
Isaiah Washington meets activists, may record PSA over 'faggot' remark
By KATHERINE VOLIN
Friday, January 26, 2007

One little word with big implications has landed actor Isaiah Washington in a public relations nightmare for the past three months.

Washington, who was accused of referring to T.R. Knight, his gay colleague on ABC drama “Grey's Anatomy,” as a “faggot” in October, reignited public hubbub over the incident by claiming on Jan. 15 that he never said it.

“I did not call T.R. a faggot,” Washington said in the Golden Globes press room on Jan. 15. “Never happened, never happened.”

But backlash from his colleagues regarding his denial landed Washington back in the hot seat he'd tried to avoid.

On Jan. 22, Washington ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/1-26/view/actionalert/actionalert.cfm Fri, 26 Jan 2007 05:00:00 EST YouTube gets flagged YouTube gets flagged
Lesbian website decries anti-gay content warnings
By ERIC ERVIN
Friday, January 19, 2007

A lesbian website is accusing the popular YouTube site of anti-gay discrimination, claiming the online video site tolerates regular viewer “flagging” of lesbian content as “inappropriate.”

“Despite being a great resource for LGBT viewers, YouTube also offers these users constant reminders that lesbians and gays are not an entirely accepted part of American society, thanks to a feature known as 'flagging,'” contributing writer Ellen Seidler charged in a Jan. 8 article on AfterEllen.com, a website offering “news, reviews and commentary on lesbian and bisexual women in entertainment and the media.”

“What this translates to ... ]]> http://washblade.com/2007/1-19/view/actionalert/actionalert.cfm Fri, 19 Jan 2007 05:00:00 EST