Sean Penn receives official invite to Cuba's annual "Day Against Homophobia" cultural summit

[UPDATE: Sean Penn will go to Cuba, just not next week (May 11, 2010)].

A week from now or so, several countries around the world will be officially and unofficially observing the annual "International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia" (IDAHO).

The events, loosely coordinated through a French website are the brainchild of French academic figure Louis-Georges Tin, who launched the IDAHO idea in 2004.

This year, the IDAHO committee has made a call for participating organizations to hold a "Great Global Kiss-In". Participants are being encouraged to call for a public gathering at a national or local monument, urge poeple to carry the flag of their country, wear clothing that represents their nation, hold a public kiss-in and tape it and then upload it at the Global Kiss-In page.

So far, 36 localities are listed on the page, including some in the United States (Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco at the Harvey Milk Plaza, and St. Louis).

The Latin American countries listed so far are Colombia, and Peru.

Not listed in the kiss-in page but holding their third annual week-long "Day Against Homophobia" cultural summit will be Cuba, under the auspices of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) and it's director Mariela Castro Espín, daughter of current Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

The final version of the official program, which describes an array of events taking place in Havana from May 11th through the 18th, includes educational workshops and panels (one event will bring together pro-LGBT religious organizations), concerts (including an event called "Rockers Against Homophobia"), receptions (a mother's day themed event is limited to providing a space for transgender people and their moms), photo and art exhibits.

There will also be an incredible number of LGBT-themed television and film screenings including Germany's "Aimée and Jaguar", India's "Fire", Argentina's "XXY", Great Britain's "Kinky Boots", Taiwan's "Beautiful Boxer", Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Querelle" and Cuba's "Where Forgetfulness Does Not Live".  Cuba has certainly come a long way since it wouldn't even allow it's own "Strawberries and Chocolate" to be shown in local theaters.

The United States is also represented by the 2003 TV movie "Soldier's Girl" the 2001 documentary "De Colores: Lesbian and gay Latinos", 2002's "Unconditional Love" with Kathy Bates, and, perhaps most surprisingly, an episode from the 4th season of "Grey's Anatomy" titled "The Becoming" which features this storyline.

What is not surprising is that Gus Van Sandt's "Milk" will also be screened. In March of 2009, CENESEX announced that a screening of the film would be a key component in a new CENESEX initiative against homophobia and at this year's cultural summit it will be screened once again to close the week-long event.  A panel discussion will also follow.

At a press conference held on Wednesday to announce details of the summit, Mariela Castro said that she had sent a special invite to Sean Penn, the American actor who plays the role of Harvey Milk in the film, to attend the screening.

"We've sent him a message to Haiti to see if he sees it fit to come on the day we screen his movie to debate it," said Castro (Sean Penn has spent the month in Haiti helping people affected by the recent catastrophic earthquake).

Controversy: In 2008, Penn came under criticism for hanging out with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Raul Castro (before he became the island's president) for an "investigative report" for The Nation and The Huffington Post.  It wasn't the first time he'd visited with Chavez (their first meeting came in 2006) and he'd also met Cuba's then president Fidel Castro on an earlier trip to Cuba.

The week "Milk" premiered in the United States was the same week The Nation published the Sean Penn piece in 2008 and it drew a particularly myopic attack from the gay right in the United States in the form of an essay published in The Advocate authored by James Kirchick ("Sean Penn's Blind Spot").  At the time, I didn't necessarily disagree that Sean Penn should have been criticized (at the time I wrote "I have little patience for Hollywood actors going on 'fact finding trips' to countries like Venezuela and Cuba when it's obvious that the access they get to the upper echelons of power is due to their political leanings and their fame") but in Kirchick's diatribe he ignored the fact that on LGBT issues there had been a sea-change when it comes to Cuba (Kirchick, to give you an idea of where he was coming from, also went to endorse John McCain in the last presidential election).

But, then again, when it comes to LGBT issues in Cuba, things remain far from perfect and there is reason to believe that the rights of LGBT political dissenters in the island are still being curtailed,  That's why I also thought that Cleve Jones' defense of Sean Penn, also on the pages of The Advocate, was a bit naive as well.

I would actually love to see Sean Penn be able to make it to the "Milk" screening in Havana on May 18th.  I might not agree with his political views or stands but it would shine a light on some of the more positive developments when it comes to LGBT rights in Cuba in recent years.  If he does show up, I'll give you the update when it comes.

Extra fact: Radio Guantanamo, broadcasting from Cuba, reports that Guantanamo will also join Havana in observing an international response against homophobia. Activities include screenings of movies like the United States films "Quinceañera" and "Gods and Monsters" and a special gala on May 17th to celebrate the "International Day Against Homophobia".  The events are sponsored by CENESEX.

Marriage equality in Cuba: A reader has also tipped me to the following YouTube video from a show that was broadcast on Venezuelan television on May 6th (its the 1st of 6 clips from the show). Venezuela, following Cuba's example, is launching their own version of a government-sponsored series of cultural events this coming week around the IDAHO theme. The invited guests are Mariela Castro Espin and Gabriela Ramirez, the Venezuelan government's ombudsperson. 

I won't translate the whole thing but, early in the clip, at the :57 second mark, Castro says the following:

...and there we are indeed proposing, within the Family Code, for the establishment of, the recognition of legal unions, we don't say 'marriage' because it would create a lot of controversy, we'll leave that category to the heterosexual world, and we are proposing another category, which would be marriage between people of the same sex, and that their right to adopt is also recognized...

Cause Commandos to the rescue in Haiti

Each week I get a fair amount of promotional e-mails and press releases from people promoting something or other they think I might write about on this blog. Most times you wonder if the promoters sending those press releases have even seen the blog since the stuff they are promoting clearly doesn't fit within the topics I address (no, I will not write about your latest neon red Valentine's Day dildo). At other times, they are clearly product placement pitches which makes you wonder why the company simply doesn't take an ad on the blog (no, I'm certainly not going to write about the latest hair product being used by Eva Longoria). And then, there's those few promotional e-mails that actually do fit in with the blog, some of which also go by the side particularly if I haven't been blogging consistently during a period of time.

And then, well, your mouth just drops when you get something like this.

Meet Cause Commandos! From the press release:

When disaster struck the impoverished island nation of Haiti, it also struck close to the hearts of boyfriends Luke Montgomery and Nate Gudias. Having lived in Haiti and founded an AIDS orphanage in the coastal town of Jacmel, Montgomery feared the worst when no word was received from the orphanage. Within 48 hours the couple raised over $10,000 from family and friends in the gay community and were on a plane bound for the Dominican Republic which borders Haiti. When news reached them that children in the AIDS orphanage were unhurt but that the local hospital had collapsed on its patients the couple says they were transformed into "cause commandos" with a mission to get medicine and medical supplies to survivors.

Now, a month after the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the island nation, Montgomery and Guidas have decided to expand their personal mission and go public with their efforts through the launch of causecommandos.com and a series of YouTube clips showing their work. Their goal? To rally support from the LGBT community for Haitian relief causes and to allow site visitors to "directly buy medicine, food & tents".

"We're on a mission to help as many people as we can with medicine, food and tents for shelter. We're buying the supplies across the border in the Dominican Republic and running them by boat into the parts of Haiti that aid is still slow to get to. When a country is as poor as Haiti was before the quake, even the biggest relief effort is not enough. So we're stepping up to the plate and hoping that the gay community can join us," says Montgomery.

Their efforts are not the first time that gays in the United States have stepped up for Haiti. The Red Cross launched an LGBT Haiti Relief Fund that has raised more than $150,000; a small LGBT foundation based in San Francisco with previous work in Haiti called the Rainbow World Fund also launched one of the most immediate LGBT-specific responses to the earthquake; and the good men of Onyx, a "brotherhood of Men of Color in the Leather lifestyle" raised $1,200 for Haiti at a fundraising party. Olivia, Atlantis and RSVP, the leading travel cruise ship companies in the LGBT community, also called for the LGBT community to donate money in collaboration with the Red Cross. But I was first taken aback and then actually amused by the "Amazing Race" feel of Cause Commandos site and video.

I mean, my first reaction was actually that it trivialized the suffering going on in Haiti by adopting some of the 'reality show' elements in promoting assistance for Haiti and featuring yourself as the lead super-heros in the midst of all of it. But then those feelings actually subsided - I do tend to criticize everything - and began to see it for what it was. Two guys with a personal past commitment to Haiti who actually lived there before the earthquake using the internet to call others to do good. The "give now" button on their site takes you to their Paypal account so I can't voucher for how donations might be accounted for. But I also don't see any reason to think that the guys are anything but genuine in their intention. They do say that 100% of proceeds will go towards helping people in Haiti. And, looking again at the video, I actually have come around to think it's a pretty smart idea to engage certain segment of the LGBT community.

An aside: Something else caught my attention. At the bottom of the release there is also a little blurb that reads "Luke Montgomery is a former AIDS and gay rights activist best known for his highly-publicised interruption of President Clinton's 1993 World AIDS Day speech and legal name change to 'Luke Sissyfag' in the 1990's."

Yup. Luke Montgomery is Luke Sissyfag reborn. In 1995, Montgomery told The Advocate "I wish people would forget about the person named Luke Sissyfag and move on, I have. It's not part of me anymore".

It would be tough to outrun that past so I guess Montgomery has learned to live with it. He probably knows that putting that blurb there will probably get Cause Commandos more attention. For those of you who have no idea who Sissyfag is, I won't bore you with details. Let's say he was incredibly polarizing and, in some ways, Montgomery might still be. But last year I was purging my files, news clippings, and old magazines, and ran into a couple of articles I had saved about him. I'd actually nearly forgotten about him but I was shocked by the charge I felt in looking at clippings from that time. Whether he likes it or not today, he was a shock to the system, and I might have disagreed with a few of the things he did and said. I was equally shocked when blogger and friend Michael Petrelis ran this post in May of last year.

It's fascinating to me to see a man who was such a public figure go into media hibernation and emerge years later as a different person. In that sense, good bye Luke Sissyfag, welcome back Luke Montgomery.

For more information:

• Cause Commandos official web page here
• Cause Commandos YouTube page here
• Cause Commandos Twitter feed here

Related:

• Luke Sissyfag's Haitian Relief Effort For Quake Survivors Needs Funds (Michael Petrelis)
• Boyfriends Luke Montgomery & Nate Gudias are on a 2-man mission to rescue Haiti (Queerty)
• Gay Commandos lend aid in Haiti (The Advocate)
• 'Cause Commando' couple comes to rescue in rural Haiti (The Huffington Post)
• Gays to the rescue: Same-sex couple run emergency supplies to survivors in Haiti (Steve Rothhaus / Miami Herald)
  

Syndicated Latino columnist takes on Sean Penn's defense of Raúl Castro, Hugo Chávez

Earlier this month I posted an item on an essay written by actor Sean Penn for The Nation on meeting Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez and Cuban leader Raúl Castro which came under criticism by James Kirchick in the pages of the gay publication The Advocate. Kirchick argued that Penn was tainting the acclaim he has received for his turn as gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk in the Gus Van Sandt movie "Milk" by kowtowing to despots whose governments still violate the rights of LGBT individuals.

Now comes an OpEd column by Sergio Muñoz Bata in which he takes Kirchick's essay and does a more incisive job in taking Penn to task for defending Castro and Chavez. Muños Bata is a former editorial member of the Los Angeles Times and a former Executive Director of La Opinión and his weekly column runs weekly in a dozen leading Latin American newspapers including Colombia's El Tiempo and Mexico's Reforma.

I have seen it pop up all around Latin America but haven't seen an English-language version so let me translate the last few paragraphs from the version that was printed in El Salvador's La Prensa Gráfica ("When Art Imitates Life", Dec. 18, 2008).

In the first half of the essay Muñoz Bata gives some background on the "No on Prop. 8" battle in California, the life of Harvey Milk, and the parallels between Milk's gay rights battles and today's battles. He then launches into his own critique of Penn:

The convincing performance by Penn in the movie, as his incessant political activism in real life, in support of certain causes of the Left, have created a certain cult of personality. Within the gay community, however, there have also been complaints that have questioned his devotion to human rights.

In an essay published in The Advocate, a bi-weekly magazine aimed at the national gay community, James Kirchick reproaches Penn for - on the same day that the movie premiered - publishing an article exalting dictators such as Fidel and Raúl Castro and their mechanical extension, Hugo Chávez, guilty of egregious violations of the human rights of Cubans and Venezuelans.

What doesn't escape Kirchick is the irony of the historic duplication which Penn inadvertently revives in playing the role of the "useful idiot" of whom Lenin spoke to describe those who - thankful for an invitation to the Soviet Union - hid the "Gulags" and horrors committed against dissidents and trumped up the glories of the "new workers' paradise".

In his love letter to Chávez and Raúl Castro, Penn describes the small details of his travels with Chávez in the presidential airplane. He also writes about his stay at homes set aside for foreign dignitaries in Habana, and the entertainment, between toasts and meals, provided by the younger of the Castros as he allowed him an 'exclusive interview' which stretched to seven hours make Penn's "journalistic" work easier.

In reaction to Kirchick's essay, Cleve Jones, the gay activist who fought next to Milk and now does it next to Penn, has published a failed rebuttal to Kirchick's arguments. Jones seems to ignore that despite the evident advances that have occurred since the days in which Fidel Castro defined homosexuality as a "deviation from nature", Cuba remains a country in which gay people are denied the right to congregate because they are considered a risk to the national security.

Worse yet, in his plea, Jones avoids confronting the central issue, that which concerns us all, those of us who are not gay and those who are, the undisputed and nonnegotiable universality of the respect for the human rights of individuals.

I think that Kirchick is right when he suggests that it is hypocritical to have a selective vision of how, where and when human rights are respected.

An aside: Miami's El Nuevo Herald, a sister publication to the Miami Herald, also published the column ("When arts imitates life", Dec. 17, 2008) but it's an edited version that does not include four of the last five paragraphs I translated above.

Previously:

• Sean Penn taken to task for supporting Venezuelan and Cuban leaders (Dec. 13, 2008)

Sean Penn taken to task for supporting Venezuelan and Cuban leaders

In a Nov. 25th essay published first in The Nation and later on The Huffington Post ("Conversations with Chávez and Castro"), actor Sean Penn takes what turns out to be a rather benign look at Cuban leader Raúl Castro and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez - both of whom he visited.

I have little patience for Hollywood actors going on 'fact finding trips' to countries like Venezuela and Cuba when it's obvious that the access they get to the upper echelons of power is due to their political leanings and their fame. It's certainly great PR for despots who want to come off as cuddly and nice and it certainly highlights the unfortunate tendency by some in the left wing of the United States to romanticize the Cuban revolution and the emergence of left wing "revolutionaries" such as Chávez in Venezuela.

Jump ahead a few weeks and you have a Dec. 9 piece by James Kirchick in The Advocate using the essay in The Nation to criticize Penn on the issue of gay rights ("A friend to gays and anti-gay dictators alike"). Penn, of course, is currently playing gay icon Harvey Milk in the Gus Van Sant flick "Milk" and the editors at The Advocate must have jumped on the chance to run an OpEd piece countering the hosannas the actor has been receiving for his portrayal of the gay rights leader (contrarian OpeEd pieces draw readership).

Considering my comments above, you might think that I agree with Kirchick's argument that Penn's benign take on Castro and Chávez compromises the actor's pro-gay stand (or his portrayal of Harvey Milk). I don't.

There are valid arguments to be made that gay-rights have been curtailed under both Castro and Chávez (ongoing reports that LGBT rights organizations in Cuba have been censured as well as Chávez personal uneasiness with the question of homosexuality matching recent criticism from gay rights organizations and a recent decision by a top court to ban same-sex marriages) but Kirchick seems to have his own ideological blinders in assuming that there have been few gay rights advances since Reynaldo Arenas wrote "Before Night Falls" (1992).

The fact is that there have been momentous advances in Cuba when it comes to LGBT rights - particularly over the last five years although government intervention and censorship remain and dissident views are still penalized. And, while Chávez might be homophobic and the Venezuelan top court has banned same-sex marriage, there are annual gay rights marches in Caracas and other cities and several LGBT rights organizations and activists who are pretty visible and who speak to press freely even when criticizing their president.

So while I personally find that Penn lets his ideology get in the way of his appraisal of the Cuban and Venezuelan leaders, the same can be said of Kirchick when it comes to the hit piece on Penn.

As for "Milk" - Saw it a couple of nights back. Not sure if my expectations were too high but I didn't think it was all that. Except for Josh Brolin's brilliant portrayal of Dan White, it came off as a little too didactic and rushed for me (despite it's length), which seems weird since most people who had told me they'd seen it had loved it.

Update: Cleve Jones wrote a letter to the editor in response to the Kirchick OpEd defending Penn. An excerpt:

Sean Penn is a citizen of the world. He harbors a tireless curiosity and a healthy skepticism, so he goes out and ascertains things for himself firsthand. His explorations as a journalist have put a spotlight on some of the biggest issues of our time: in Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and -- closer to home -- New Orleans. His visits and dispatches have opened avenues of communication and encouraged dialogue.

It still doesn't address that Penn is given unparalleled access denied to hundreds of objective journalists and is treated as what he is - a Hollywood star - in part due to the fact that his past essays have shown him to have a benign view of the Cuban and Venezuelan governments.

Totally unrelated but related - Rex Wockner didn't think it was all that either:

• We needed some Harvey Milks this year (Dec. 14, 2008)

Clinton talks to Latino gay web portal, Obama should embrace gay media

Kerry Eleveld has a great piece over at The Advocate Online on the different approaches by the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns when it comes to gay media and their stands on LGBT rights (All Politics Is Local, The Advocate Online, April 22, 2008).

I bring this up because, as an Obama supporter, I have no idea why the campaign has been so reluctant from engaging gay media and specifically local gay media - aside from placing ads and offering OpEd pieces plus one or two big interviews with The Advocate.

Sure, I get why Obama might not have spoken to The Philadelphia Gay News but how about Gay City News, Bay Area Reporter, The Blades, etc.?

His explanation to The Advocate? “We tend not to do a whole bunch of specialized press. We try to do general press for a general readership.”

Which is all good and stuff but he still misses a great opportunity to connect a bit more with the gay community which tends to vote at higher rates than the general community.

The Clinton campaign, on the other hand, seems to offer more availability to the candidate when it comes to gay press.

What stunned me this week was that she even gave a brief interview to an upstart Spanish-language LGBT web portal called Tras La Verdad and probably made history:

• The interviewer was Veronica Onnassis (above) who is transgender (not sure a trans journalist has ever had access to La Clinton); and
• Clinton probably was sold on the idea that the portal aims to reach the Spanish-speaking LGBT community in the United States - which also probably makes it the first time that a presidential candidate has reached out to a Spanish language LGBT site.

The Clinton camp probably new it would be a puff piece (the site had endorsed her weeks earlier) - and how!

Here are the questions: "How do you manage to keep balance between work and family?", "Who do you admire?", "What part of the world do you prefer to vacation in?", "If you are elected president, would you work with openly gay persons on your electorate train?", "Are you friends with people who are openly gay?", "Do you have friends who are openly gay?", "Many gays in the Latino community admire you for what your contribution to LGBT rights - How do you feel about the backing of these individuals?"

And of course, "Who is your favorite fashion designer?" and "What is your favorite color?"

Finally, on the very last question, Onassis asks a policy question by telling Senator Clinton that in her home country, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere some people with HIV face employment discrimination and then asking if as president she would launch an international policy to stop those abuses.

Senator Clinton said yes.

I still believe Obama will be our next president and hope that this will be resolved sooner than later. But the campaign should engage gay media a bit more.

Related:

• Chris Crain: Obama's Gay Press Snub? Pt. 2 (April 10, 2008)
• Chris Crain: Obama sits for second Advocate chat (April 9, 2008)
• Politico: Gay press frustrated by Obama approach (April 9, 2008)
• Chris Crain: Obama's gay press snub? Pt. 1 (March 4, 2008)

Obama Campaign Announces New LGBT Endorsements

For additional information please check out this Advocate online exclusive. I am more than glad to have been included in the list:

CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES LGBT ENDORSEMENTS
Equal rights activists from around nation announce support for Obama

CHICAGO, IL – The Obama for America campaign today announced the endorsement of LGBT activists from around the nation. The activists include state and municipal elected officials, the leadership of the AFL-CIO's Pride at Work initiative, and prominent equal rights activists from states holding upcoming primary contests.

"In order for America to make progress toward social and economic justice, we need a president who does not mock, but rather embraces bold change, and who advances the vision of the beloved community. Our movements for equality, for healthy families and excellent schools, for workers' rights and shared prosperity, for veterans' care, fairness in the courts, and a safer environment have more than a friend in Barack Obama. We have a champion equal to the challenges we face and able to lead us forward together," said Hans Johnson, President, Progressive Victory.

"The finger-pointing and polarization in politics have become a threat to our well-being as a nation. I support Barack Obama because his compassion, respect for even those who oppose him, and inclusive values can build a new kind of national unity across the many lines that have previously divided us," said Missouri State Representative Jeanette Mott Oxford.

"We're building a coalition that includes Americans with diverse ideologies from all regions of the country to bring the change we desperately need," said Senator Obama. "That's the type of coalition we'll need to build to achieve equal rights for all Americans. I'm grateful for the endorsements of these prominent activists who fight every day for the principles of equality and justice." The full list of LGBT activists announcing their support for Obama today are below:

Jeanette Mott Oxford, Missouri State Representative, District 59-St. Louis City

Wilson Cruz, Actor, Los Angeles, CA

Kevin Jennings, Founder and Executive Director, Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

Donna Rose, Former Board Member of the Human Rights Campaign; Former member of the Hillary Clinton for President LGBT Steering Committee; Transgender Activist

Jeremy Bishop, Executive Director, Pride at Work (AFL-CIO)

Ian Palmquist, Executive Director, Equality North Carolina; Immediate Past Chair, Equality Federation

Jo Kenny, Development Director, Pride at Work (AFL-CIO)

Stephen Glassman, Chairman, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission

Hans Johnson, President of Progressive Victory

Craig Bowman, Former Executive Director of National Youth Advocacy Coalition

Donna Cartwright, Communications Director, Pride at Work (AFL-CIO)

Perry Nelson, Founder, Gateway Stonewall Democrats (St. Louis, MO)

Ben Turner, Co-Founder and Former Co-Chair of the Capital Region Stonewall Democrats (Harrisburg, PA)

Robert Perez, Public Relations Executive and Former WA Press Secretary for Kerry-Edwards

Judy Chambers, Co-Founder and Former Co-Chair of the Capital Region Stonewall Democrats (Harrisburg, PA)

Conrado Terrazas, Political Field Director for SEIU 1000 (CA)

Lisa Hazirjian, Visiting Professor, Carnegie Mellon University (PA)

Gregg Gallo, National Stonewall Democrats Board Member (WA)

Anita Latch, Washington State Stonewall Democrats President

Jenny Durkan, Washington John Edwards for President State Chair (2004 & 2008)

Krista Strothmann, Baltimore Chapter of Pride at Work (AFL-CIO)

John Klenert, Campaign Board of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Member of Board of Directors for DC Vote

Marti Abernathy, Transgender Advocate (Indiana)

Joe Darby, Vice President, Pride at Work (AFL-CIO), Lansing, Michigan

Randall Ellis, Former Executive Director of Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas

Andrés Duque, LGBT activist (NY)

Gary Fitzsimmons, Dallas County District Clerk (TX)

Tim Downing, Member of Board of Directors for Human Rights Campaign (OH)

Christina Ocasio, Transgender activist; 2004 delegate to the DNC Convention (TX)

Dyshaun Muhammad, Former GLBT Caucus Chair, Young Democrats of America; Former Political Chair of Twin Cities HRC Steering Committee (MN)

Pauline Park, Chair, New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy

Glen Maxey, Former Texas State Representative (first openly gay member)

Marti Bier, Former Field Director for PFLAG

Doug Lakey, Director of West Coast Office of Alliance for Justice; former Development Director for the Human Rights Campaign

Terry Penrod, Member of Board of Directors for Human Rights Campaign (OH)

David Peña, Jr., Executive Director, National Hispanic Business Association

John McClelland, President, Denton County Stonewall Democrats (TX)

Joe Lacey, Dayton (OH) Board of Education Member

Tony Ballis, President, Dayton (OH) Stonewall Democrats

Noel Alicea, LGBT activist (NY)

*Organizations listed for identification purposes only.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2008
Obama Press Office, 312-819-2423

ZERO Latin America

Some interesting gay-themed publishing news, although details remain somewhat sketchy.

Spain's ZERO magazine, one of the better gay-themed publications in the world released it's it's 100th issue over the weekend.

Reportedly the cover has a metallic silver look and reflects the reader's image, a stunt reminiscent of the much-ridiculed Time magazine 2006 "Man of the Year" issue which chose "You" as the cover person. EFE also says that for the special issue, ZERO is running a gallery of new photos of people that might have graced their cover in the past (although I doubt it will include Reverend José Mantero who shocked the world when he came out as an openly gay Catholic priest on ZERO's cover but later criticized the editorial direction the magazine had taken).

I guess I'll wait for it in the mail but that's not necessarily what caught my attention.

The most interesting part of the EFE reports is that ZERO editor Miguel Ángel López also says that Grupo Zero Communications is considering a purchase bid from an unnamed North American organization who is ready to pay "various millions of Euros."

Even more interesting: The unnamed organization says that it intends to buy ZERO as a way to enter into the "international scene" with plans of launching a Latin American version of the magazine as well as open it up to "audiovisual media" (an international Spanish-language gay channel?).

All this is very exciting (hm, I'd be willing to work there) but few other details were offered. López would only say that a final decision on the sale of ZERO would not be taken until at least two weeks from the date of the original EFE report (Sept. 9).

If it does happen, I wonder what the impact will be on an array of small and mostly web-based "magazine" efforts in Latin American countries (including Mexico's Anodis and Enkidu, Argentina's AG Magazine, Peru's Diario de Lima Gay, Brazil MixBrasil and Chile's Gay Magazine among others). We'll keep you posted if there are any developments.

Updates: Chad Ferreira, circumcision, Alvaro Orozco, Colombian 'asylum tragedy'

Chad Ferreira: The Bay Area Reporter continues it's coverage of the altercation in San Francisco's Castro district that led to the death of Chad Ferreira (pictured) in January of 2006.

Last week reporter Ed Walsh described opening statements made at a trial that will determine whether 26 year old Kyle Adams committed manslaughter by beating Ferreira so hard that he caused Ferreira to fall and fracture his skull when his head hit a sidewalk curb or if he is, as he claims, innocent and just acting in self defense.

Today, the Reporter describes Adams turn on the stand and his side of the story, some of which differs with witness statements and includes details were not originally provided to the police department when he was first charged.

The paper says that closing arguments after the print edition of the Reporter went to press and that the case went to the jury at 3:10pm yesterday.

Circumcision as HIV prevention: The New York City department of Health and Mental Hygiene held it's community forum on the issue of male circumcision as a possible HIV prevention tool. I was not able to attend but both Gay City News and the New York Blade covered the arguments and the reaction.

Alvaro Orozco: In February we told you about a decision by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board not to grant asylum to a young Nicaraguan gay man, Alvaro Orozco, partly because they argued that if Orozco wasn't sexually active when he left Nicaragua at the age of thirteen, he could not assert that he knew he was gay then. The Orozco case and his ongoing efforts to appeal that decision receives a coverline in the current issue of The Advocate. For more on the case and on how you can help, please visit his website.

In United States political asylum news, Arthur Leonard calls an April 25th ruling that turned down an asylum application by a Miami-based Colombian gay man "Another asylum tragedy." Leonard says that the court not only denied asylum but also outed him in the process and now is sending the man back to Colombia despite having arguably shown credible evidence of fear of persecution if sent back.

Tracey Thorn on Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy"

You might remember that earlier this month I raved about Tracey Thorn's new CD, "Out of the Woods." Well, when I found out arjanwrites was requesting fan questions to pose to Ms. Thorn, I just had to sumbmit my a question of my own and, lo and behold, it's been asked! Better yet, it's been anwered!

From arjanwrites (my q in orange):

Questions from Andres, Brian and Gabriel: Even if "A-Z" does not necessarily have an overt gay theme, some of the lyrics do have some resonance in comparison to Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy." Did you see "A-Z" as mirroring that seminal '80's song? What was the inspiration for that song and what are your feelings about gay rights in general. How do you feel about the gay community embracing you?

Tracey Thorn: "A-Z" was inspired by, and is in part an act of homage to the great "Smalltown Boy" (as an interesting footnote to my answer above, when i first heard Jimmy Somerville, i thought he was a woman, so there you go). I read an article in the paper about bullying of gay teenagers in schools, and how prevalent it is, and how it is a leading cause of teenage suicide, which is sad and dispiriting. It makes me feel enormous sympathy and warmth towards anyone who has the misfortune to be any kind of outsider at school. Kids can be such lumpen idiots.

I've always been kind of embraced by the gay community and I am very proud to be so - I feel very welcomed and understood by gay fans, in a way that i sometimes don't feel understood by the more heterosexually-oriented-male-dominated rock community, for instance. It s a cliche in some ways, but it is about a basic and shared understanding that Dusty Springfield is more important than Bobby Gillespie.

For the full Q&A: Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Next up on Arjan's "Ask the Artist" series: Andy Bell of Erasure, ask your questions now.

By the way, congrats to arjanwrites on his profile in The Advocate.

Dear Advocate and Queerty: The US also bans HIV+ immigrants

The Advocate often relies on the Associated Press for daily news updates posted on their online site so it wasn't surprising to see an AP story pop up on the site about statements made on Friday by Australian Prime Minister John Howard "people with the AIDS virus should not be allowed to migrate to Australia."

No mention in the AP blurb or elsewhere on the site that the United States also has banned HIV+ people from immigrating to this country since 1990.

Searching for "HIV ban" on their site the only reference is a pro-immigration statement that I signed, along with another 54 activists, which the Advocate Online reprinted in April of last year.

To be fair, the print edition of The Advocate has addressed the HIV ban in past articles that are not available online but it made me wonder if the online news editor had any inkling that a ban also exists in this country.

In the past, we have questioned the Advocate's reliance on the AP wires as their main source for their online news, particularly when the AP kept sending stories that unilaterally focused on anti-gay activities and statements by conservative institutions in Puerto Rico without mention of pro-gay developments (or advocacy) in the island. The editor at the time replied that "we are an extremely small company with no full-time Web staff and do not have the resources to do original reporting for our Web site, so we rely on wire coverage and other media whose work we can summarize for our readers" - but that was a few years back.

Online portals being what they are today and considering improvement in original reporting in their print edition, let's hope that The Advocate is making moves to improve it's original reporting online as well.

Queerty, who never sees an Advocate blurb it doesn't like, screams "Australia has discovered a cure for AIDS: Banishment!" but it takes a reader to point out to them that, yes, the policy they're criticizing editorially is actually this country's policy as well.

False hopes? As for the United States HIV ban, President George W. Bush raised hopes last December that he might be open to changing the law when he directed the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to "initiate a rulemaking that would propose a categorical waiver" for HIV travelers in the United States but Gay Men's Health Crisis and Immigration Equality issued a joint press release warning that the President's order "does not rescind HIV travel ban."

Coalition to Lift the Ban: A number of local - read: NY metropolitan area - HIV service providers, immigration advocates and agencies are organizing a community forum for May 15th on this topic. In their statement they say:

"For twenty years U.S. policy has banned HIV + non-citizens from traveling and immigrating to the U.S., supposedly to protect public health and minimize public costs. Yet forcing HIV+ immigrants underground, and discouraging preventative care, the bar increases the risk to public health and the cost of health care, while limiting the lives of affected immigrants in incalculable ways."

I may ad that a foreign student that might qualify for a student visa, a foreign worker that might qualify for a work-related visa, or a foreign person that might qualify for residency status based on a petition by a brother or sister who is a citizen of the United States, will not be allowed to gain entry into the United States if they are HIV+.

There are only limited waivers when the petition is made by parents of an HIV+ child or through marriage.

Feel free to reach me at blabbeando@gmail.com if you would like additional information on the May 15th forum.

LJ Bears *heart* Steven Mackin

The current issue of The Advocate (October 24, 2006 cover date) has an article ("Bears on Live Journal") as part of their "Best of the Web 2006" coverage.

The article takes a look at the popular blog / diary site LiveJournal and the surprising way in which it has become a networking site for gay and bisexual bears (the article, confusingly, is not available online).

I recently posted on the travails of my friend Steven Mackin (a/k/a coolukman on LiveJournal) and the recent news that a cancer he thought he had beaten three years ago seemed to be back with a vengeance.

Last week and this week have proved tough ones for Steven beginning with a sudden change in hospitals a week ago Wednesday. This was followed by some disheartening news on which Steven ruminated earlier today followed by slightly more promising news this afternoon. We've kept in touch almost every day (the man can text message like no one else I know) and have spoken to him a few times this week being mindful of his hospital stay and of the time he's been spending with his family.

In a conversation we had a while back before the cancer resurfaced, Steven told me that one of the big reasons he came out to his family was watching the amazing Pedro Zamora on the 3rd season of MTV's The Real World (to many, Zamora was the person who brought home the impact of HIV/AIDS as well as the courage of being an out gay man on national television; personally, he certainly was a huge reason why I began to volunteer at HIV/AIDS service organizations). Steven also mentioned that Zamora was one of the reasons why he began to write about his experiences with cancer on his LiveJournal blog and continues to do so, unflinchingly, to this date.

As for The Advocate article on LiveJournal, Steven's posts show just how the site is much more than a networking site for bearish gay and bisexual men. It seems as if every single bear on LiveJournal has left a greeting or two below Steven's posts which goes to show how it can also be a tremendous source of support and love when difficult things like these happen to someone.

In any case, I tried to be on LiveJournal for a New York minute a few months back but it just wasn't for me. Maybe I wasn't bearish enough? In any case, I guess a Blogger can always join the LiveJournal choir:

You rule, Mackin! Lotsa love from New York.

Updates:

• Good bye, my friend (Oct. 30, 2006)
  
• Word is out so... (Oct. 28, 2006)
  
• Damn, Steven (Oct. 26, 2006)

Previous posts:

• I *heart* puppies (Sept. 29, 2006)
• We love Steven Mackin (Sept. 26, 2006)
• More fun with Steven (April 12, 2006)
• Time for some good ol' butt (Nov. 3, 2005)

A difficult choice: Love or country

Back in May I briefly mentioned a documentary making the film festival rounds and still in the post-production stages called Through Thick and Thin. The film's director, Sebastian Cordoba, was being profiled in The Advocate for a series of articles on immigration and the LGBT community in the June 6th issue (co-producer Lavi Soloway's blog is on the right)

The documentary drew my attention not only because it portrays the wrenching situation faced by hundreds of gay couples around the United States when one partner is a United States citizen or resident and the other is neither, but also because one of the couples featured in the film are my friends Tom and Emilio (pictured).

Well, Tom has just joined the blogosphere with Canadian Hope and Emilio is running it's Spanish language companion Esperanza Canadiense (added to my links on the right).

As Tom writes "We are a bi-national couple living in New Jersey, USA. We've struggled for almost 5 years just to remain together. Earlier this year we were inspired to apply for residency in Canada because we yearn to be free, equal and safe from the tyranny of the right. This blog will be a mix of our immigration process, our daily lives and topics of interest like politics and religion."

A year ago, when I launched this blog, several friends (and bloggers) greeted me with open arms. So I say, still hoping that Tom and Emilio will somehow resolve their situation and be able to stay in the United States, welcome to the blogosphere! Love you guys!

UPDATES:

• Emilio gets final word from immigration court (December 19, 2006)
• The United States vs. Emilio (December 21, 2006)