Update: A resolution of sorts in the case of Dallas Constable Mike Dupree

In a case that we have followed for a while, The Dallas Voice is reporting this week that openly gay Dallas Constable Mike Dupree has resigned maintaining his innocence in charges made against him even though he has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

Dupree, who saw allegations of improper use of his power pile up after it was reported that he had a much younger former lover picked up by one of his deputies and put him in deportation proceedings (the teen was an undocumented Honduran immigrant), resigned only when a judge ruled that there was enough evidence to investigate whether he should continue holding his post.

An independent investigation also detailed in this week's Dallas Voice determined that "Dupree [had] made a habit of inviting young Hispanic employees on dates, trips and cruises; taking them to the basement and making advances."

Dupree told the Voice that it was all an orchestrated campaign to run a gay man out of the constable's office but, in exchange for his resignation and a pledge never to run for another politically appointed office in Texas, all pending charges - aside from a misdemeanor - have been dropped.

Updates: Constable Dupree, Rev. Diaz' money, Larry Kramer challenged

Dupree's troubles: Things for gay Dallas constable Mike Dupree get thornier - according to the Dallas Voice - as the Texas State Attorney General's Office mulls prosecution in a series of charges that have arisen since the Dallas Observer reported last year that the fifty year old man had apparently had his deputies arrest a twenty year old Honduran ex-lover and arranged to have him deported. Santo Gay highlights a more recent Dallas Observer story in which they detect a pattern in the type of guys Dupree goes for and how he gets his way with them.

Rev. Diaz' purse strings: The homophobic Reverend (and State Senator) Ruben Diaz, Sr. hasn't let an FBI probe disturb the way he channels state funding towards projects in which he is directly associated. On April 4, the New York Daily News reported that the recently approved state budget includes two grants worth close to $300K for the Christian Community Benevolent Association.

Reactions to Kramer: Following the ACT UP Wall Street demonstration a week ago Thursday, Gay City News has a cover page story on the rally this week. In the same issue, CHAMP Executive Director Julie Davids has an essay on the role of women in ACT UP throughout the years and Larry Kramer's failiure to aknowledge them in his recent rable-rousing speech.

Over at the New York Blade Paul Varnell argues, in an OpEd piece, that Kramer's speeches are "characterized by substantial exaggerations of fact, hyperbolic rhetoric and a certain amount of vulgarity" and that his most recent statements are incoherent.

PS - By the way, speaking about local gay media, Gay City News also inaugurated it's first webcast this week featuring editor in chief Paul Schindler.

The church of David Papaleo (a/k/a Ex-Porn Star Tom Katt)

OK, this might be a bit off-subject, considering that I rant mostly about Latino stuff but stories like these actually fascinate me.

Turns out one of the biggest gay porn stars of the last decade, who I briefly met at a gay pride parade here in Manhattan, says that he has retired from gay porn, found Jesus Christ, thought he was bisexual but now knows for certain he is straight, has retired his Tom Katt porn name (he responds to David Papaleo now), wants to become a priest and, get this, still thinks that God loves gays and lesbians and that they should have the right to marry!

As someone who thinks that sexual identity is more fluid than people give it credit, I will take Mr. Papaleo's statements at face value. What is different about his statements and those of so called "Ex-gays" that some conservative churches trot out to media to prove that sexual identity can be changed, is that the so-called change also comes with a repudiation of homosexuality and the argument that to be in God's graces one must abandon one's identity (or, in their words, one's 'lifestyle').

In an interview with the Dallas Voice published today, Mr. Papaleo does not argue that people can change their sexual identity, he does not argue that being gay means you are evil and says that his new-found belief in Christianity was not a catalyst for now leading a straight life (he is now a married man).

He does share some other interesting points of view.

Of his experience as a porn star he says: "I don't think that erotica or sexuality is a bad thing. I believe that sex is the strongest physical expression of love to another person. But porn is not an expression of love. It's empty and cold. There is nothing wrong with sex. God made sex, too."

As for Christian fundamentalists preaching against gays: "So many people are shunned or feel like they've been pushed away from God - that God doesn't want anything to do with them. I want to tell as many people as I can that that is an absolute lie. God loves everybody. He made you the way you are [...] Don't let anyone tell you you're less than anything in God's eyes."

I say, give the man a church!

UPDATE: David Papaleo shows us love, we show love back (March 1, 2006)