What LGBT bloggers do when they write about blogging conventions

In a piece published today at Bay Windows and the Bay Area Reporter by Lisa Keen, she reports on the LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Convention that I attended last weekend in DC ("LGBT bloggers learn the ropes at summit"). The event was organized by blogger Mike Rogers (pictured right).

I know I already posted an unofficial listing of the blogs that were represented at the gathering. But now that everyone seems to have returned home, here are some thoughts on the convention by some of the participants.

Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend has several posts up mostly filed as the gathering took place which include a number of photos and video grabbed at several of the presentations / workshops. Here is her take on the on the opening day of workshops including video of a panel on the lessons of the passage of Prop. 8 in California; additional photos and videos; and her take on the second and last day of workshops including a presentation on the history of LGBT organizing by former Human Rights Campaign ED Tim McFeely and another on techniques to promote your work as a blogger in the larger media / blogosphere presented by the great Cathy Renna.

The Bilerico Project had an array of their contributors present bloging for the site as well as their individual blogs. Father Tony posted part of a speech by Barney Frank that I mentioned in one of my posts which actually took place at the Victory Fund luncheon (you can watch it here) and Alex Blaze commented on the few days that the Bilerico crew spent in DC.

Father Tony, whose personal blog can be found at over Farmboyz, posted some photos - including one of myself standing next to Buffawhat, Jimbo and Joe.My.God.

Which brings us naturally to my roommate for the weekend, Joe.My.God, who did this recap with a link to a slide show of lotsa-pics. Buffawhat has this and rugger Jimbo has this as well (he also was telling anyone who listened to go out and buy Robyn's latest CD).

Knucklecrack a/k/a Eric Leven attempted something similar to this post on Tuesday and might have done a better job at linking up to others than I am doing. He shares this... "There's Buffawhat, who by the end of the weekend I solely referred to as Buffawhaaaaaaat or would say, 'Buffawho? Buffawhat!' and sometimes I'd snap" which - amazingly - were exactly my thoughts when I met Buffawhat, except I didn't outwardly express those thoughts. Oh, and I didn't snap.

Greta Cristina has a great post in which she admits that she has "never done one of these conference reports before. I'm not quite sure how you do it" but nevertheless shares some interesting thoughts on the event (instead of describing the workshops she analyzes what they meant for her as a blogger).

Working Films, who I did not list in the original list of blogs I posted, reflected on the Prop. 8 panel, among other things.

Rod2.0 had did a brief rundown of the events Saturday and Sunday (with photos) while Mad Professah Lectures posted a photo of him and I (courtesy of Joe.My.Blog, I believe). I was looking forward to meeting both Rod and Ron as supportive as they have been of this blog over the years.

Other bloggers mostly reflected on how great it was to be there including Michael at Coming Out in Mid Life or had brief reactions like enGender, Existential Punk, & Gay Person of Color (who has more pics!). Matt at InterstateQ reflected on how cold DC was compared to his home city of Charlotte, NC.

Amazingly, one of the people I didn't meet was Ask the Gay Latino (!) who wrote this about the event. I kept wondering who he was and making a point of trying to ask about which blog he wrote but the chance never came.

So, not a complete rundown by any means. But a sampling of what bloggers took away from the weekend's convention.

Previously:

• LGBT Blogger and Ctizen Journalist Convention - Day 2 (Dec. 6, 2008)
• LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Convention - Day 1 (Dec. 5, 2008)

LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Convention - Day 1

So let's say you're walking down the streets of Washington, DC, on a cold December day. Say that the 'Don't Walk' light is on and you don't dare jaywalk 'cause it's DC and not New York and jaywalkers really get caught. You look ahead and all you see are... a gaggle of LGBT bloggers and citizen journalists! Would you suddenly scream and run away? No?

Good! 'cause that's exactly what the denizens of DC got today.

The occasion was the 1st National LGBT Bloggers and Citizen Journalist Convention. I, the New Yorker, dared to jaywalk across before the light changes just to take the photo above! You are welcome!

The initiative was created by the DC-based blogger Michael Rogers (of PageOneQ and BlogActive) who got initial support from philanthropist Jonathan Lewis and sponsorships from the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. Additional sponsors include Microsoft, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Gay Alliance Against Defamation, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association, Bolthouse Farms and the New Organizing Institute and Center for American Progress Action Fund which are hosting the two-day event.

A couple of highlights for me actually did not come from today's workshops /panel presentations but from a luncheon organized as part of the Victory Fund's annual conference to which Convention participants were also invited.

First was a moving tribute given by New York State Senator and former Councilmember Tom Duane to former Councilmember Phil Reed who passed away a few weeks back.

Tom, of course, was elected to the City Council in 1991 as the first openly gay and HIV+ councilmember while Phil followed his steps becoming the first African-American councilmember who was also gay and HIV+.

Phil had always been gracious to me on the times that I had the opportunity to see him at political events and elsewhere and though he had a certain prickly reputation I always found him to be funny, engaging and sweet - a true hero - and was tremendously sad when I heard about his passing although I knew that he had not been doing well.

Also during the Victory Fund lunch was a note key speech by Congressman Barney Frank who spoke eloquently about serving in politics as openly gay people.

In part, he was addressing a number of trainees of a Victory Fund program for individuals who might want to run for office in the future (to my surprise my friend Miguel Ayala was among them which meant I got to say hi to him for the first time in ages).

I took copious notes as Frank made comments regarding marriage, DOMA, ENDA, DADT, the hate crimes bill and President-elect Obama. But in true Frank spirit, the Congressman had a couple of bon-mots that had the audience laughing with his dry humor.

In challenging notions that blacks and Latinos were to blame for the passing of Prop. 8 in California, Frank said he was grateful to the leaders of the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucus who, according to him had "a better record than gay members in Congress." He let that sink in for a moment and then said "...not the open members such as Tammy [Baldwin] and myself." Purrum-pum!

And, addressing his prominence as the hair of the House Financial Services Committee during the current economic crisis: “If [an LGBT-inclusive hate crimes law] passes, you will still be able to call me a faggot. I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re in the banking industry, however” [h/t Mombian for catching the complete quote].

As for the Convention, I already had met some of the participating bloggers in the past and it has been great to see them again but I was particularly happy to meet Rod McCullum of Rod2.0 and Ron Buckmire of The Mad Professah Lectures (at right with myself) I am also having a blast rooming with Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God who is out checking out the DC nightlife with Father Tony of the Farmboyz as I write but regaled me with some nasteee i-Tunes music tonight along with Broadway showtunes done to a disco-beat. Somehow Gloria Estefan made the cut as well. Then again he did live in Miami a while back.

Panels, we've got panels! Actually I was on one on "Diversity" which felt a little diffuse to me but seemed to go OK. I was on along with my friend Russell Roybal from the Task Force and the Reverend Irene Monroe from Bilerico and Autum Sandeen from Pam's House Blend.

There was also a main panel on Prop. 8 and a workshop on journalism.

I'll try to share a full list of participant bloggers and blogs tomorrow.

[Photo credits: All photos by myself except the last one courtesy of Joe.My.God]

Related article:

• New initiative to train gay bloggers (Washington Blade, Oct. 3, 2008)

Spain: Organizations decry homophobic attacks against gay men caught having sex in public bathrooms

Above: Isaac Rodríguez explains what happened after he was caught in a Pio Prince Mall bathroom stall with another man (ADN Television).

Remember Senator Larry Craig's bathroom incident? You probably do as it became almost as big a news story as Britney Spears' meltdown last year (actually, my friend Michael Rogers broke the story over at his BlogActive blog).

If memory serves well, some of the reaction back then - including from gay media - expressed disgust, disdain and utter shock at the fact that some men use public restrooms to cruise other men - as well as the usual lurid coverage that accompanies stories like these.

The whole bru-ha-ha led to amusing commentary from Rex Wockner and a handy video guide of signals gay men use to cruise other guys by Rod Townsend (the Felching Flytrap is particularly effective - or so I've been told).

Which brings us to Spain: It may not be a story about a homophobic politician being caught in his own hypocrisy, but I was struck by an article published yesterday in Madrid's ADN ("Sex in public bathrooms, homophobic aggressions") and the tone of the coverage.

Basically, representatives of LGBT rights organizations tell the newspaper that security guards at some public establishments such as shopping malls and train stations are being overtly aggressive and have verbally and physically assaulted men found having sex with other men in public bathrooms. They say that these attacks are homophobic and that security guards who are overzealous in taking justice in their own hands should be brought to court.

"A month and a half ago I witnessed how a man attacked another at the Atocha train station because he was offended by a look," said Miguel Ángel González, President of the LGTB Collective of Madrid (COGAM), "he began to hit him until the security guards showed up, they quickly took the victim away, while the nothing happened to the attacker" [Funny, I remember walking into that exact bathroom during a visit to Spain and being shocked by how cruisy it was].

He says the victim never reported the incident and explains that a lot of the men that cruise the bathrooms are in the closet and afraid to bring charges against the attackers.

Manuel Ródenas, an attorney specializing on LGBT rights, tells ADN that there is a legal vacuum when it comes to these cases since there are no laws that address instances in which the aggressor walks away free.

"[Having sex in public bathrooms] is not a crime as long as it can't be categorized as exhibitionism;" says Ródenas, "The victims do it with discretion and do not want anyone to find out, but the security guards often open the stall doors, breaking their intimacy and forcing the proof."

Now, if you have read articles about public restroom sting operations in the United States usually you see a number of men being arrested or charged by police with their names and addresses sometimes published the next day in the local newspaper. I can't remember any instance in cases like these in which a man has gone on record or on camera to defend his actions.

Well, check the video above (larger version here).

Isaac Rodríguez, tells ADN about being assaulted by a security guard at the Prince Pio Mall back in February after being caught in a bathroom stall with another man.

"I was in a stall with a guy, a security guard came in, looked below the stall doors, saw that there were more than two legs and gave a strong kick to the door and pulled us out. He began to insult and threaten us. He said he was a Nazi and that he'd be our worst nightmare."

"The security guard grabbed my head and pushed it against the mirror, but the aggression did not leave a mark or an injury, so I wasn't able to present proof."

In the video he says that the attack lasted for 20 to 30 minutes and that it was rather unpleasant. He also shows exactly which bathroom stall he was using which for some reason I find really funny but, hey, I have a weird sense of humor. He also says that straight couples sometimes use public spaces for sex as well but are never taken under custody or attacked.

Rodríguez has taken the security guard to court.