Excerpts from The List;
THE LIST
May 28, 2003
Washington, DC
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In this issue:
1. Republican Congressman Calls Gay Rumors "Revolting"
2. Religious Right Called Prejudiced
3. Live Gay or Die
4. Buenos Aires Recognizes Gay Couples
5. New Gay Dating Show
6. Fag Stags
1. REPUBLICAN CONGGRESSMAN CALLS GAY RUMORS "REVOLTING"
Last week I reported on how the Florida papers have been busy "outing" Republican Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL). Foley's homosexuality has been a non-secret in Washington political circles. Well, Foley held a press conference to respond to the articles outing him, and calls the rumors "revolting and unforgivable." Foley's response led many to conclude that he was trying to have it both ways by intentionally being vague as to what exactly he was calling revolting - being gay, or people using outing as a tool.
Which raises the larger question of what the standard should be for "outing" public figures, and does that standard need to be updated for the year 2003? Foley has reportedly not kept his gayness as a closely-guarded state secret. Like Rosie O'Donnell, Foley wasn't out, but he wasn't exactly "in" either. Once a celebrity or politician is out-out, then mentioning their gayness is generally considered fair game. And when they're closeted, a lot of people think their gayness shouldn't be mentioned publicly unless they're guilty of hypocrisy - i.e., hurting gay people with their words or actions. But no matter how far out or in Foley is, isn't it news that a Republican congressman is running for the US Senate and he's gay? To the best of my knowledge, that would make Foley the first almost-out US Senator, and with the recent brouhaha over Senator Rick Santorum's anti-gay screeds. And that strikes me as news. Am I wrong?
You can read Mike Signorile's take on all of this here:
And read the Miami Herald update on the story here:
2. RELIGIOUS RIGHT CALLED PREJUDICED
Last week I wrote about how David Horowitz, a conservative icon, took a big swipe at the uber-Christians of the religious right, and they weren't very pleased. Well, Horowitz wrote another article and took another swipe, this time at Robert Knight, one of the anti-gay men at the Concerned Women for America, and Knight's never-ending quest to con America into believing that gay people can be cured of homosexuality (perhaps Knight should find the cure for bigotry first, then worry about
us).
Here's is a great excerpt from Horowitz's article:
(BEGIN EXCERPT)
Which brings us to Knight's final comment and self-revelation: "Our agenda ...is to dissuade people from becoming trapped in homosexuality." Let me make a personal statement here which does not - or should not - affect one way or another the political discussion about whether it was appropriate to confront the RNC Chairman or to demand that the Republican Party take a stand on whether homosexuality is more or not.
In my view, Knight's statement is a prejudice dressed up as a moral position. It presumes that homosexuality is a choice, while all evidence points to the contrary. The conversion movements have been miserable failures. They have recruited a highly motivated and extreme minority among homosexuals - people so unhappy with their condition that they are desperate to change it - and the results are pathetic. Only a tiny minority of what is itself a tiny minority of people willing to go through the conversion process achieve a well-adjusted heterosexual result.
That is my personal view, but it is irrelevant to the issue at hand. Even if Knight were correct in thinking that homosexuality is a moral choice, and that Christians and Jews have a moral obligation to oppose it, this would not alter the fact that it is inappropriate and self-defeating for philosophical conservatives to make this their political agenda. A mission to rescue homosexuals is a religious mission; it is not an appropriate political cause. Would Robert Knight like the government to investigate every American to determine whether they are homosexual or not and then compel those who are to undergo conversion therapy - or else? This is a prescription for a totalitarian state. No conservative should want any part of it. But this is how Robert Knight sums up the political agenda of social conservatives. Those who agree with him should think again.
(END EXCERPT)
You can read Robert Knight's latest screed, and David Horowitz's latest
article (following the screed) here:
3. LIVE GAY OR DIE
The Associated Press reports that 54% of NH residents favor a law that would permit the state to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians. And not surprisingly, the study found that the younger the person polled, the more they were in favor of marriage and overall civil rights for gays. Once again, for all those uber-Christians out there, let's issue a big na na na na na. New Hampshire, no less, folks. Live gay or die!
Read the entire article about the poll here:
4. BUENOS AIRES RECOGNIZES GAY PARTNERS
In the ongoing string of good news for gay couples, Agence France-Presse reports that the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina became the first in Latin America to permit same-sex couples to register for legal recognition. Read the entire article here:
5. NEW GAY DATING SHOW
Ok, this is interesting. A gay "bachelor" show where half the gay suitors are actually straight! Yep, it's coming to Bravo this summer. Fascinating premise. And I can only imagine those "straight" guys kissing the gay guy (I'm sure they're doing it just for the money, uh huh). Anyway, it's another sign that gay is now mainstream. Read about it here:
6. FAG STAGS
Yes, straight men who are no longer admit they have gay buddies. They're called "fag stags". Read about it here:
Ok, that's it for now. Enjoy the week.
JOHN
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Copyright 2003 John Aravosis
USEFUL GAY SITES:
"In Germany, the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I didn't speakup because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then
they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one leftto speak up for me."
- Martin Niemoeller, Berlin Lutheran pastor arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau concentration camp in 1938; the Allied forces freed him seven years later.
"90% percent of Americans don't care what you do; 10% are fanatics. They think you're going to hell, and they want you to go to hell. All right? Ignore them... I mean, people who think you are going to
hell and are going to quote from Revelation that you're going there. I think that's a little ridiculous, don't you?"
- FOX News' Bill O'Reilly on religious right "fanatics," The Advocate,September 2002.
