Two years ago when I had my second operation to repair my severely damaged hip due to a car accident not only did the surgery go unexpectedly long but I loss a considerable amount of blood.
That afternoon/night back in my room I was given two units of blood.
Not once did I think or worry about the blood what with the testing for a variety of things including HIV.
In the US gay men are still barred from donating blood.
You need to have not had sex with another man for five years.
Now how they will enforce this rule is beyond me.
Will Big Brother now monitor gays through all seeing eyes and keep tabs on their sex lives ?
And what about women ?
They can contract AIDS/HIV as easily as men can but no one talks about banning them from donating blood.
Gay and bisexual men continue to be the scapegoats in polluting the much needed donated blood supply.
As I wrote I didn't give it a thought when I needed the blood, nor would I have if gay and bisexual men were allowed to donate. Obviously I needed the blood .... end of conversation.
An NBA player coming out, more and more in support and acceptance of LGBTs and then the curtain is pulled back to show that homophobia is still with us and becoming more brutal and deadly.
Trans being killed in Brazil, two incidents of gay bashing in New York City and the brutal murder of a gay man in Russia.
Just when we were kidding ourselves into a comfort zone of acceptability the stark reality of what still is smacks us aside the head and we realize there is still danger in being who and what we are.
Should we retreat back into the closet, of course not we have come to far for that.
But we need to be made more aware and that is where the LGBT press needs to stand up and take accountability. We need more coverage of hate crimes, not less. Bloggers and the LGBT press instead of covering over and over ad nauseum what politicos and the likes of NOM are saying needs to be replaced with bringing to the forefront the crimes against us. The Gay Mafia needs to go after and press authorities to bring justice for those who have been affected rather than silly campaigns against media for the improper use of descriptions or a tongue-in-cheek slight.
It's fine to have these "feel good" stories on websites but it's more important to report, or at the very least, cut/paste articles of violence against LGBTs both here and around the world.
To not do so lulls us into a venerable comfort zone instead of reporting the shocking truth no matter how scarce in this day and age. But then it may not be as scarce as the LGBT press would have us believe with their tinsel choice of articles.
You want to be labeled as "press" then do your job. Report the ugly truth not just the tantalizing body shots to get reader counts and ad clicks up.
You have accepted the job of being journalists, then do it, and not just by cut/paste. Make phone calls, get out on the streets and get answers to questions. Anyone can sit anywhere as this blogger does and highlight a news event. But I'm not paid to do so as I'm a casual writer of opinion.
If you are not up to the task then fold your tents and shutdown your websites.
As you have probably heard the IOC wants to drop the sport of wrestling starting in 2020.
Already outrage over this decision has the IOC rethinking the announcement with a vote coming later this year in September.
But the madness of this decision isn't the thrust of this posting but what Russian coach Vladimir Uruimagov has said in a report .
You see this homophobic douche bag insists that the woes of Olympic wrestling is caused by de gays.
“If they expel wrestling now, that means that gays will soon run the whole world,” the R-Sport agency quotes Uruimagov as saying.“It turns out this committee is headed by representatives of these minorities.”
Really Uruimagov ?
Wrestling is one of the most watched sports by de gay during the Olympics.
You need to get Greco style with some gays and bis then see who cries Momma !!! .
As this is Sunday perhaps I better go to church after this posting.
So it is down under in Aussieland the Australian Classification Board approved the viewing of a documentary about bestiality in particular in Columbia where it seems for some to be a right of passage to screw a donkey to gain sexual experience and among other things "prevent homosexuality".
You can close your mouth now.
Please someone pass the smelling salts to that fella over there who just fell out of his chair.
The odd thing about this (only one ???) is that two years ago the same board refused to grant a certificate to a documentary about gay men as it showed scenes of men .. well you know.
However it appears it is okay to show males having sex with de donkey.
After you watch the video of the documentary .. presuming you're still breathing you can read all about this homophobic silliness and pro-screw the pooch mentality of the Australian Certification Board.
Good news has been reported for long suffering LGBTs in Iraq as the Netherlands has announced they will offer asylum to those not only persecuted but in danger of being killed.
As GayStarNewsreports, The Dutch government has announced it will open its doors to LGBT Iraqis, after declaring the country unsafe for homosexuals.
Dutch Immigration Minister Geert Leers had already announced a temporary halt to the deportation of LGBT asylum seekers back to Iraq in June, but has now gone the further step of declaring that it is impossible to be openly gay without risking your safety in any part of the country.
The website Care2 also reports, This of course is not an open door immigration policy. Asylum seekers will have to prove their claim is genuine–and this could be problematic. EU immigration authorities have found it difficult to establish what truly constitutes proof of being gay without relying on lazy stereotypes.
This is something Koen van Dijik also noted in greeting this news, saying, “People will have to prove something they’ve taught themselves to disguise out of fear for their entire life. It will be a very tricky situation and the immigration officials carrying out the interviews will need special training".
Surprisingly London based Ali Hili (featured in the video with LGBT activist Peter Tatchell) has neither commented on his blog/website for Iraqi LGBT nor his Facebook about this news nor added any links to articles about the Netherlands offering asylum.
This writer in the past (on earlier versions of FOTR) has been a champion of Hili and his org which "collects donations to house" LGBT Iraqis until people questioned and inquired about financial information for his group several years ago.
When those questions and inquiries were not answered, I backed off the support I offered in postings for him and his organization. I am in no way implying that he nor his group does anything wrong when it comes to garnering funds but I do find it extremely odd, in fact unsettling to some extent that as of this writing no reference nor comment of what has been announced by the Dutch government has come from Hili.
When Marlins' baseball manager Ozzie Guillen made his comments regarding Fidel Castro recently there was such an outrage it's surprising it didn't send a tsunami over to Cuba.
Give credit to Cuban-Americans, Latinos and others not just in Miami but around the country who found fault with Guillen and spoke out in outrage.
What's a shame is that same outrage is not felt or expressed when someone in the world of sports be they players, team executives and particularly fans offer disparaging remarks about LGBTs.
Perhaps those who have felt the outrage over Guillen's remarks will now know some semblance of how the LGBT community feels when anti-gay comments are made.
Lesson learned ? Alas most likely not.
And now what about Atlanta Falcons player Roddy White and his tweet in answer to the question "Would you rather lead the league in stats than win a Super Bowl?" to wit he replied "Would u rather be gay or straight come on u know that answer."
Of course he apologized as they always do but not without ranting about free speech.
LGBT advocates who were looking to have Prop 5 which would have prevented discrimination based on sexual orientation for a variety of things from housing to employment have been given a big moose pie instead.
58 percent of voters said NO to de gay in what appears to be a very high voter turnout such that they ran out of ballots and had to use sample ballots as replacements.
In 2009 a similar ordinance for the city was knocked down and has been an on going battle since 1976.
It seems wildlife has more advocates than de gay in the state Sarah Palin made infamous.
There it is thanks to the LGBT website Queerty and an anonymous reader of said website who took the photo (yes you can click it on to see larger version) purportedly of John Hart and Dennis Mayer in de buff and at least posing frontal to anal for all those to see dockside.
Hart and Mayer wouldn't admit to doing the nasty but they can't deny their dumbass show of nudity in anti-gay Dominica if that's them.
I mean really how stupid can you be ? They give assholes a bad name.
In case you've been living under a rock or need a refresher course about de gays with no brains you can read the March 22 posting from this blog.
As my two buddies over at Best Gay Travel Guide would tell you when traveling to other countries you need to make yourself aware of what goes and what is taboo when it comes to sodomy laws.
Two men from California are learning that the hard way as GayStarNews is reporting using several sources. The two men were arrested Wednesday after being seen by someone from the dock where the ship they were on, a Celebrity Summit cruise ship, was docked and the individual alleges the two men were engaged in sex.
John Robert Hart and Dennis Jay Mayer both in their 40's were arrested on the ship by local authorities and will appear in court today on charges of suspicion of indecent exposure and sodomy. The ship had been docked in the Caribbean country of Dominica which outlaws sex among gays.
The cruise which had been organized by the gay travel company Atlantis Events in West Hollywood, CA warns all travelers of potential sodomy laws which are in effect in the various countries their planned cruises take travelers.
The penalty in Dominica for same-sex sexual activity is up to 10 years in prison.
In an update from one of the sources GayStarNews used in doing their article, Dominican News Online, the website reported the charge of "buggery" (sodomy) would be dropped and they had been charged with indecent exposure. The sodomy charge was dropped because as Police Chief Cyrille Carrette told the website Wednesday evening, that charge will take too long to expedite, hence the men will only be charged with indecent exposure.
The ship sailed on without the two men to continue the scheduled cruise.
If found guilty of the indecent exposure charge they could be fined $370 each and could face up to six months in prison according to a report by the Associated Press via The Washington Post.
In the latest update the two men pleaded guilty this morning to the charge of indecent exposure and were fined about $900 and were expected to be released today.
One final note on this topic as now an interview with Hart and Mayer has become available as of Friday 3/23/12 (video may be pulled at some point for copyright infringement) and this is my opine but also shared by others who have sent me email or other comments I have seen, these two gents really can't play the anti-gay card (even as others are doing in support) as they knew the "rules" of the country they were visiting and being on board a ship does not fore go those rules as the ship they are on sits in the water of Dominica. Whether they were engaged in sexual activity or just standing butt naked for all to see on the dock is, in my less than humble opinion, just dumbass stupid given the potential consequences.
The interview is from KTLA-TV. Queerty has "exclusive interview" with eyewitness.
Dharun Ravi was all smiles when he sat at the defense table just before noon today when the jurors entered the courtroom after reaching a verdict in Ravi's trial of spying on Rutgers roommate Tyler Clementi with a webcam and posting the video of a sexual encounter for others to see.
Subsequently Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge in New York City on September 22, 2010.
Ravi's smile and somewhat smugness changed to a look of disbelief as the jury forewoman delivered guilty verdicts on 15 felony counts charged against Ravi. Others in the media have said Ravi showed no emotion but this writer had a different impression of Ravi's change in demeanor as the guilty verdicts were read off one by one. Clementi's parents who were also in the courtroom showed emotions of relief for their dead son Tyler as the verdicts were given, to the point where Clementi's father who was writing down and keeping track of the verdicts took off his glasses and wiped tears from his eye.
The guilty verdicts included bias intimidation, witness tampering, invasion of privacy, hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence. The key verdict(s) for members of the LGBT community are the guilty verdicts regarding bias or a perceived "hate crime".
Ravi could spend 10 years in a federal prison although talking heads said on various TV programs after the verdict he would likely spend three years in prison because he had a "clean record" prior to the charges brought against him. Because Ravi was born in India he could, although unlikely be deported back to his native country. Ravi declined a prosecution offer to plead guilty which would have afforded Ravi no jail time.
Some LGBT pundits have written in previous days this trial does little to advance LGBT causes, others will herald the verdicts for the cause against anti-gay bullying and "gay hate crimes'.
There are no winners in this case. Only losers. The biggest of which is Tyler Clementi and his family after his personal life was invaded by another person.
According to an article at GayStarNews 56 Islamic states of the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Cooperation) have sent to the United Nations Human Rights Council a letter which reveals members will not be attending the March 7th panel which will discuss "Discrimination and Violence based on Orientation and Gender Identity".
In the letter members of OIC are opposed to the panel being held and will not accept any considerations or recommendations which may come from the panel regarding the Human Rights of LGBT people.
Two points in the OIC letter are, We are even more disturbed at the attempt to focus on certain persons on the grounds of their abnormal sexual behaviour, while not focusing on the glaring instances of intolerance and discrimination in various parts of the world, be it on the basis of colour, race, gender or religion, to mention only a few.
and, It must also be recognized that the international community agreed during the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993, that while considering the issue of human rights, national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind. From this perspective, the issue of sexual orientation is unacceptable to the OIC.
In response to Pakistan being one of the countries which will not be in attendance and have denounced the idea of Human Rights for LGBTs, international LGBT activist Peter Tatchell has said, "Pakistan has signed up to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees equal treatment and non-discrimination to all people.
I urge the Pakistani President and Prime Minister to repudiate this intolerant, ignorant letter. The Ambassador's rejection of universal human rights is deplorable. It casts the government of Pakistan in a bad light."
An interesting theory the headline in this post does make and it's not without some basis in fact as Ramzy Ahmed writes at the website GayStarNews.
Ahmed takes a look at sexual repression in the Muslim country of Qatar which is becoming the playground for the wealthiest of the wealthy in the Middle East but at a cost to those who like the Western lifestyle of booze, sex and song.
On the surface, the staunchly conservative view that homosexuality is a sin, a western disease, and, according to religious leaders like Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi and Bilal Philips, something that should be punishable by death, continues to be the status quo presented to the outside world. And, yet, under the surface, homosexual acts are widespread.
And for those who are of the steadfast conclusion that being gay is not a choice, when there is social repression as can be found in the Middle East and in particular Qatar anyone can be turned even if only for an encounter to relieve one's sexual needs when pent up in a religious imposed repressive society. Qatar would be the perfect microcosm of sexuality for Kinsey to have explored and evaluate how repression equates to homosexuality or at least the act of.
It’s similar to the idea of prison sexuality, harem sexuality or priests who have dedicated their life to celibacy who may seek sexual fulfillment from other sources. It is fair to say that these realities are, in a great part, due to a denial that humans are sexual beings, and that denying sex doesn’t mean that the desires go away. They do come out in one way or another. So, this is happening on a national scale here in Qatar, and other countries in the region.
Could it be we have found the modern age version of ancient Greece and Rome out in the middle of the desert where same-sex partnering isn't necessarily based on one being gay, lesbian or bisexual but just on the human need to find sexual pleasure as one can with another person.
Yes Qatar would indeed be a place of interest for Kinsey.
While others are concentrating on Roland Martin, Washington State and what looks like same-sex marriage coming into being, an Atlanta hate crime and other items both newsworthy and not so, I thought I would bring to the forefront what most will probably miss and not bring to their readers.
Since the beginning of this year there have been several incidents of homophobic attacks in Malta, so many in fact that Maltese government officials are now considering adding into its current hate crime law those who attack or kill based on sexual orientation.
The website GayStarNews reported this newson Wednesday.
Malta which is a member of the EU and signed the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which does prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation currently has no laws in place to prosecute acts of violence based on homophobia.
In late January a peaceful demonstration of about 50 people was held to protest the fact there are no laws currently available for gay hate crimes. The protest was held in the town where a lesbian couple (one of the couple is shown in photo) were beaten by two male teenagers.
In an interview with The Times of Malta, Gabi Calleja who is the coordinator of the LGBT group, The Malta Gay Rights Movement, was quoted in part, "The incident is a reminder of the fact that being part of a minority continues to pose certain risks: that being gay, lesbian or part of an ethnic minority or sometimes just being a woman can put one at risk of being assaulted, violated and discriminated against."
“No one should become a target because of their identity and when this basic right is threatened then measures should be in place to ensure that justice is done.”
The video is a report on the incidents of violence and the protests which have followed and although not in English the video alone is more than enough to understand what has been happening to LGBTs in Malta where justice for LGBT hate crimes is so very long over due.
I've just come across a film which opened on January 13 in Turkey titled Zenne Dancer which was inspired by the "honor killing" of Ahmet Yildaz in 2008 allegedly by his father who according to reports still remains a fugitive from justice.
Filmmakers Carner Alper and Mehmet Binay who were friends of Yildaz center their film around three characters who forge a friendship, one of which is coming to terms with who he is as Cole Araibus writes in an article at the website Film School Rejects.
Araibus' piece is based on a Reuters articlewhich has reported the movie is creating controversy in Turkey. A conservative newspaper in Turkey calls the film "homosexual propaganda". That has the familiar ring of the Conservative Christians and their affiliated media here in the US.
So deep rooted in Islamic religion that the disgrace of someone being homosexual the Reuters' article reports, After he was killed, the family did not claim Yildiz's body for a proper Islamic burial -- an indication of the deep shame the family felt and that they had ceased to consider him one of their own. He was buried instead in a "cemetery for the nameless."
The articles are worth a read with the one from Rueters giving more background on Yildaz's family life and what it is like to be LGBT in Turkey. The first link in this posting is to a 2008 article from The Independent which was one of the first of the international press to discuss Yildiz's murder.
The film has won five awards at the prestigious film festival in Turkey, the Antalya Golden Orange. Hopefully the film will eventually be shown here in the United States.
Earlier this week the website LGBT Asylum Newsreported yet another example of anti-gay actions by countries who don't want asylum seeking LGBTs to stay.
This time it's Norway when authorities told Azad Hassan Rasol (pictured left) even though Norway acknowledges that gays and lesbians are at risk even to the point of being killed in Iraq, a Norwegian High Court responded to Rasol's request for asylum that he ''must comply with Iraq's socio-cultural norms''.
In other words go home, stay in the closet and hopefully you won't be killed.
Rasol who is a Kurd was quoted as saying, "My clan is going to kill me. Gays and lesbians cannot live openly in Iraq". Rasol not only runs the risk of being arrested, convicted and punished for being gay he could also be subject to what are called "honor killings" in retaliation for being openly gay.
According to writer/reporter Michael Luongo in a piecefor the website Gay City News, Ali Hili (who has been a news source for myself over the past several years) chairman of Iraqi LGBT a London, England based human rights group for LGBTs in Iraq, told in a press release of the arrest of over 20 gay men in Kurdistan this past September.
“The men were attending a party at a private house on 15th of September when the police raided the address. After fierce protests against the raid by human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, all but three men have since been released from the city’s Garmyan Prison. Several of those detained claim to have been subject to violent beatings while being held in solitary confinement. The authorities in Kalar refuse to disclose the whereabouts of those still in detention, the conditions in which they are held, or the charges they face.”
Rasol's case will now go to the Norwegian Supreme Court.
